Nursing Theory Nursing theory is the foundation of the nursing practice, has been researched, measured for positive outcomes, and directed nursing care since the beginning. Nurses to improve their practice of providing positive patient care if guidelines are followed can use nursing theories. The purpose of theory is to have a model to follow to deliver safe and effective care, and to achieve positive patient outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to define theory and the purpose of theory, explain the four patterns of the nursing metaparadigm and explain the importance of theory in the nursing practice. Nursing Metaparadigm Person, health, environment and nursing make up the four concepts of the metaparadigm pattern. The nursing metaparadigm …show more content…
Healthcare professionals must remember that although their following a proven set of guidelines, it is important to treat each patient as an individual as well. The nursing theorists have taken individuality in care into account and mentioned the importance of structuring nursing based on each individual’s needs, (Wadensten and Carlsson, 2003). Diiferent theorists have come up with different points on view on the practice of nursing. For example, Martha Rogers and Betty Neuman are both theorists that developed different theories to describe human-environment interaction. Martha Rogers believed in using three principles; reasonancy, helicy, and integrality to predict human behavior influencing healing. Reasonancy, which relates to wave patterns; helicy, which is concerned with non-repeating rhythmicities; and integrality, which is the continuous mutual human field and environmental field process (Chapman, 1987). Rogers also believed that a patient environment has a direct effect on the healing process. Betty Neuman believed in a holistic view and that we must treat patients as a whole. Neuman also describe nursing interventions as three principles primary, secondary and tertiary preventions. Primary referring to the protection and strengthening of the line of defense, secondary prevention refers to increased resistance factors and reduction in reaction. Tertiary prevention refers to the patients …show more content…
Nursing theory can be used to empower nurses by giving autonomy and improve skills. With the rise of healthcare, administrative decisions involving nurses could have a negative effect on patient care. There are four concepts that make up the nursing metaparadigm, person, environment, health and nursing and act as the model for nursing care. All theories in the nursing practice proves valuable within the profession but may vary between different theorists depending on what their beliefs are. Some theorists can view the same situation entirely different. Both Rogers and Neuman were theorist that developed theories for viewing and caring for patients but in two different ways. Professionalization, coherence, and enhanced communication are three arguments when determining the importance of theory in nursing. Multi-disciplinary nursing becomes necessary to achieve positive patient
Nursing theories are based on four meta-paradigms which are commonly accepted in the nursing profession. These include nursing, person, health, and environment. These meta-paradigms are represented in Dr. Barnard’s Nursing PCI
These four concepts play a very important role throughout the care in every single patient we are in contact with. The concept of person is used to represent each individual patient, such as a man or a woman (Chitty & Black, 2014). In the nursing profession, we know that every person is different in their own way from many different factors such as, genetics and environment. As a nurse, we incorporate the different factors that make a person who they are today. According to Chitty & Black (2014), the concept of environment includes all the influences or factors that impact the individual. The environment plays an important role in either promoting or interfering with the patient’s health. The environment can consist of many different systems, such as family, cultural, social and community systems. All these different systems can play a role in the patient’s health. The third major concept of the metaparadigm is health. The concept of health varies from person to person and day-to-day with many different factors included (Chitty & Black, 2014). Health includes every part that makes a person whole, which includes being able to perform their everyday tasks in life effectively. The last concept of the metaparadigm is nursing. Nursing, being the final concept includes all the previous concepts of person, environment and health to create a holistic approach (Chitty & Black, 2014). The holistic approach promotes the well-being of the mind, body and spirit in our
The nursing profession is considered both an art and a science. An example of the science of nursing is the theory and evidence based practice guidelines (EBP), which influence a nurses practice. The art of nursing is fluid of bringing science and patient care into nursing practice. Nurses in all levels of nursing educational programs should study nursing theory. According to Eun-Ok (2015) theory evaluation has declined and it is essential to developing nursing knowledge; which, leads to the development of nursing discipline. Nursing theory should be continually evolving as current health care trends evolve. The best way to accomplish this is through incorporating theory in academia and nursing
My personal nursing philosophy and fundamental beliefs of nursing using the four meta-paradigms concepts: nature of human beings, health, environment, and nursing. First, I believe that the profession of nursing is all about the nature of human beings as people. Care involves the patient as a whole, not just as a disease process. Second, I believe that health is on the same continuum as illness. Health is more about quality of life. Third, it is also necessary to look beyond the patient to the environment in which he/she lives in. This is important because people come from different backgrounds and have their own story, we cannot separate patients from their environment because they are interrelated. Last, I think that nursing involves being with the individual patient and having an active roll with them. This process of being engaged in meaningful relationships requires we as nurses be actively
Nursing theories developed by scientists provide a framework for the process of establishing nursing as a profession with a specific body of knowledge including nursing language, and nurse is able to communicate inside in and outside of the profession. Theory supports and defines nursing practice and is used in practice situation to provide solution to the problem, provides guidelines in patient’s quality care, and helps to resolve nursing challenges. The benefits of middle-range theories found primarily in the research studies to address particular client population, in education, patient
In 2005 Fawcett stated “the metaparadigm of professional nursing incorporates four concepts: human beings, environment, health, and nursing” (as sited in Kearney, 2012, p. 4). This paper discusses my philosophy of nursing by stating my own personal definitions, values, and assumptions regarding each of the above mentioned concepts. My paper concludes with an exemplar from my own nursing practice and how I integrated my nursing philosophy into that particular clinical situation.
"Philosophy is an attitude towards life that evolves from each nurses’ beliefs" (Parker, 2001). It is the philosophy that underlies our practice what brings to life our desire to be nurses. Philosophy is essential because it is the natural extension of our interest in knowing the truth (Parker, 2001). A metaparadigm is the widest perspective of the discipline and a way to describe the concepts that concern the profession of nursing (McEwen & Wills, 2014). In this paper, my philosophy of nursing will be discussed through reflection on the four nursing metaparadigm concepts to determine if anything should be added or taken out.
To make good nursing decisions, nurses require an internal roadmap with knowledge of nursing theories. Nursing theories, models, and frameworks play a significant role in nursing, and they are created to focus on meeting the client’s needs for nursing care. According to McEwen and Wills (2014), conceptual models and theories could create mechanisms, guide nurses to communicate better, and provide a “systematic means of collecting data to describe, explain, and predict” about nursing and its practice (p. 25). Most of the theories have some common concepts; others may differ from one theory to other. This paper will evaluate two nursing theorists’ main theories include Sister Callista Roy’s
Nursing theories are actions care that a nurse provides to a patient to prevent a sickness, maintain and promote health. Many of the theorists contribute to a frame work or a blueprint of how nurses should provide care to patients. Many these theories are part of nursing care and most of them they go hand in hand. Nursing theory aims to describe, predict and explain the phenomenon of nursing (Chinn and Jacobs1978).Nursing is apprehensive with laws and principles governing the life processes and functioning of sick or well human beings. Nursing theories are beneficial in understanding the knowledge of nursing and its application (Smith and Liehr, 2008).
To be called a nursing theory, the theory has to include these four concepts: the person (patient), the environment, health, and nursing. These four concepts differentiate nursing from all other professions and provide specific ways to care for the patient. Imogene King’s Theory of Goal Attainment and Conceptual Systems perceives nursing and its concepts as systems that all correlate and have an effect on the patient and their goals.
Around the 1960s, nursing educational leaders wanted to formulate a nursing theory that contained knowledge and basic principles to guide future nurses’ in their practice (Thorne, 2010, p.64). Thus, Jacqueline Fawcett introduced the metaparadigm of nursing. Metaparadigm “identifies the concepts central to the discipline without relating them to the assumptions of a particular world view” (MacIntyre & Mcdonald, 2014). Fawcett’s metaparadigm of nursing included concepts of person, environment, health, and nursing that were interrelated. The metaparadigm ultimately contributed to conceptual framework to guide nurses to perform critical thinking and the nursing process in everyday experiences in clinical settings.
Nursing theory can be applied to resolve nursing problems or issues, irrespective of the field of practice. A nursing theory benefits nurses and the patients that are in his or her charge. . Depending on the issue or problem that is needed to be solved determines what theory needs to be used. Nursing theory started with Florence Nightingale. She believed that a clean environment would promote better health. Virginia Henderson’s need theory emphasizes the need to ensure that the patient’s independence is being increased while in a health care facility. Ensuring that a patient can increase his or her independence allows for them to experience better outcomes upon discharge home. This is just two examples of nursing theories that were used
The field of nursing has over its history become an area of great complexity as nurses are faced with many different settings and vast amount of data that must be processed and analyzed to provide the highest quality of care to each patient. It is because of this fact that nurses began to develop a theoretical approach to aid in completing the nursing process in a systemic and logical manner. Theory enables nurses to analyze patient situations quickly allowing for the establishment of a well-developed plan of care with appropriate interventions. This process is critical in visualizing patient outcomes as well as evaluating the effectiveness of the care that has been provided to allow for changes as necessary.
Based on Henderson’s theory, we can critique the clarity, generality, simplicity, empirical precision, and derivable consequences. The clarity of Henderson’s theory is great. She provides the information in a way that is clear and to the point. There is no information that is unnecessary or not relevant to her definition. The generality of the theory is high. Henderson’s definition is broad and therefore can be applied to almost all nursing situations. The simplicity of the theory is also high. It is easy to read and understand. The empirical precision of the definition is great as well. It serves its purpose as a basis for basic nursing care and goals for the health of a patient. Lastly, the derivable consequences, or importance, is also great. It provides nurses with a basic understanding of nursing and allows them to have a base to build upon with other nursing
Nursing theory has been the basis of nursing since Florence Nightingale. Theorist have made the science of nursing what it is today by years of research. Theory has laid the base and frame work for the nursing practice. Alejandron (2017) states that a demand for excellence influences Magnet recognized hospitals to use nursing theories to achieve positive patient outcomes. In this paper the nursing process discipline theory will be discussed along with the importance of this theory to nursing. The identification of the nursing process theory and the importance of this theory will be discussed. Then a summary of the key concepts related to the nursing process discipline theory will be discussed and