The Theory Of A Nurse

The metaparadigm of nursing consists of four parts comprised by Jacqueline Fawcett, in 1984, in her seminal work (Alligood, 2014). The metaparadigm she developed served to provide direction and guidance for the nursing framework already in use and became an organization tool for theories already in use (Alligood, 2014). The four parts being person, health, environment, and nursing. The four components of the metaparadigm concept of nursing is important to nursing theory because they are the key areas of focus of patient care, and the metaparadigm is designed to differentiate nursing from other specialties (Alligood, 2014). It is this use of theories that makes nursing a profession and guides professional nursing practice, research, and education (Alligood, 2014).

The activities include physical and occupational therapy, nutrition counseling, and case management ("Community Health Nursing," 2013).

In Peplau’s theory, I believe that nurse-patient relationships provide an opportunity for the nurse to identify himself or herself by name, professional status and the purpose in relation to the patient. For

At St. Mary’s Hospital there is a need for dedicated admission staff. Several reasons why are:

A grand theory in nursing would be Doretha Orem’s self care theory. This theory encompasses the entire concept of nursing in the fact that it states individuals will strive to meet healthcare needs to maintain health and wellness. This is very broad, can not be tested and is used in a variety of settings and populations.

Hildegard Peplau believed in the nurse-patient relationship. She believed that to care for a patient it is important for a nurse to establish some form of bond. As described in the text, nursing care happens in the setting of the patient-nurse relationship (Black, 2014). Dr. Peplau’s theory initially came from what she garnered from her Bachelor’s in Psychology. As mentioned earlier, she was influenced by Fromm, Fromm-Reichman, and Sullivan. Dr. Peplau admitted in an interview, that some concepts were applied to

A nursing theory is considered as the group of concepts and assumptions that are derived from various nursing models for describing the phenomenon, which further help in drawing specific relationship between different concepts. They also act by providing an identity to the nurses and also help the other healthcare professionals and patients to acknowledge the contribution of nurses in the healthcare service. Apart from delivering the meaning of nursing, these theories also helps in understanding the role and purpose of the nurses in the healthcare setting. In any nursing theory, there are four common concepts defined by nursing theorists, which affect and determine the practice profession, i.e., the person; the environment; health; and nursing

Chambers (2005) explains that there is no set definition due to the concept being difficult to describe, with each relationship being very individualized and grounded in respect. Welch (2005) adds that it is also because the concept itself is more complex than one particular behaviour. The therapeutic relationship is more than a social relationship because of the end goal of the growth and recovery as a result (Chambers, 2005). With that said, the therapeutic relationship needs to be grounded in a social relationship in order to be effective (Chambers, 2005). Welch (2005) states that this is a relationship that brings about therapeutic effects for the patient while Chambers (2005) describes it as a relationship that the patient finds meaningful. Both of these ideas are evident in the case study provided in that the patient was unable to find meaning in his relationships with the health care team before being moved onto the eighth floor and therefore he was unable to have a positive relationship with an outcome of therapeutic effects (Punch, 2010). Furthermore, these two articles agree on the interpersonal aspect of nursing as a profession and the importance of reflecting on, discussing, and attempting to find understanding in the therapeutic relationship due to the impact this has on the patient's health outcomes and recovery (Chambers, 2005 and Welch, 2005). This relationship is mutual in the shared experience of both the health care provider and patient (Welch, 2005). This is reflected in the study by Chambers (2005) in that both the nurse and patient must share information to improve the mutual learning experience. The course content in nursing school focusses heavily on forming and maintaining a therapeutic relationship with patients,

Caring science encompasses a humanitarian, human science orientation to human caring processes, phenomena and experiences. Caring science includes arts and humanities as well as science. A caring science perspective is grounded in a relational ontology of being-in-relation, and a world view of unity and connectedness of All. Transpersonal Caring acknowledges unity of life and connections that move in concentric circles of caring – from individual, to others, to community, to world, to Planet Earth, to the universe. Caring science investigations embrace inquiries that are reflective, subjective and interpretative as well as objective-empirical and Caring science inquiry includes ontological, philosophical, ethical, historical inquiry and

“Environment is viewed as an energy field, as a universe of open systems; an event, situation, or phenomenon interacting with the

There are five stages that Benner developed for theory. The stages that a nurse moves through are: novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient, and expert (Drumm, 2013). The novice nurse are nurses that still need told what to do. The advanced beginner begins to practice based on principles ("From novice to expert," 2013). Advanced beginner is the nurse who has practiced for two to three years and is beginning to be more aware of long term goals ("From novice to expert," 2013). The proficient nurse sees the process in its entirety and improves in their decision making skills ("From novice to expert," 2013). The expert nurse has experience and understand fully how to make decisions ("From novice to expert," 2013). In each stage the nurse gains clinical experience.

The term nursing theory defines the body of knowledge given to specific aspects in the nursing profession. There are many theories that range from practice theories, mid-range theories, to grand theories. A theory refers to a group of related concepts, definitions, and statements that describe a certain phenomena from which to describe explain or predict outcomes. (Barnum) The theory guides the professional nurse in making clinical judgments based on evidence. It does so by using appropriate data, organizing, analyzing and developing connections to the patient. From there, nursing interventions can be planned appropriately and the outcomes can be evaluated in ensure proper intervention. (Black 267)

Watson (2005) suggested that nurse’s and patient’s relationships can be therapeutic, because it is presumed to enhance the patient’s well-being and the likelihood of gaining independence quickly; He went further to argue that nurses and patients are supposed to have a mutual relationship based on trust and respect, which would help foster the patient’s physiological and psychological needs towards recovery.

Peplau was most widely known for her pronounced belief in interpersonal relations theory in nursing. In that theory, she felt that the patient and the nurse would develop an interpersonal therapeutic relationship that would deliver a desirable outcome for the patient. From the viewpoint of Peplau, caring for a patient involves the nurse, the patient, and the understanding relationship that develops between them. There were two ultimate goals that needed to be achieved, the patient’s survival and the patient’s acknowledgement of his or her condition and ways of prevention. Within the interpersonal relationship, the nurse learns about her patient through assessment, treatment, and evaluation, therapeutically. Peplau stated that the nurse-patient interpersonal relationship develops over four phases: orientation, identification, exploitation, and resolution.

This paper discusses practice, research, and theory as it pertains to nursing. It explains how important research is in nursing practice. The paper talks about mislabeling specimen issues that hospital I work for encountered and examples of similar situations at other healthcare facilities. This paper discuses Florence Nightingale’s environmental theory of nursing care as it pertains to a horrible case study of parent negligence.