Impact of Nursing Theory Upon Healthcare Organization. How do nursing theories influence clinical practice?
Nursing theory distinguishes nursing as a distinct subject from medicine and related sciences and helps nurses comprehend their patients’ needs. The idea presents many templates to assist nurses in delivering care that respects patients and enhances results.
Why Is Nursing Theory Important in Nursing Education?
Nursing practice is grounded in nursing theory. The truth is that several competing hypotheses now exist. Each one’s foundations and array of treatment options were birthed from hard data and scientific study. Yet, there is a lot more going on in these theories than merely abstract concepts. It is thanks to nursing theory that the field of nursing has been able to carve out its own unique place in the diverse and ever-evolving world of health care professionals.
The Impact of Nursing Theory
Marlaine Smith and Marilyn Parker said in Nursing Theories and Nursing Practice that nurses should use theories to guide their “thinking, acting, and being in the world” because “nursing theories,” regardless of complexity or abstraction, represent phenomena important to the field. Nursing theories are helpful because they are applicable to real-world situations and promote open lines of communication with the patients, families, and communities we serve.
Theorizing about nursing is crucial, hence the field of nursing theory is also vital. In addition to helping nurses better understand their patients’ conditions, nursing theory also serves to set nursing apart from medicine and other related fields. The idea provides nurses with a variety of frameworks to use while delivering care that is respectful of patients and results in better outcomes. These theories attempt to make sense of the complex, ever-evolving connection between nurses and their profession by focusing on the ways in which nursing intersects with patients’ lives, health, and the environment.
The next generation of nurses will be well-prepared by advanced nursing degree programs like the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN), which provide a comprehensive education that blends theory and evidence-based practice.
Why Do Nurses Care About Theory?
What we mean by “nursing theory” is a body of knowledge on how to provide care to patients, how to interact with patients’ families, and how to structure one’s workday in the nursing profession. Despite the abundance of hypotheses, they don’t all accomplish the same thing. Some are applicable to nursing as a whole, while others work just in certain situations. For instance, “environmental theory,” a school of thought in nursing made famous by Florence Nightingale, stresses the need of a healthy atmosphere for a patient’s recovery.
While nurses are typically responsible for developing nursing theory, physicians, nursing theorists, and other medical professionals are also significant influences. Nurses frequently employ a variety of theories, as adherence to a single theory isn’t always fruitful.
Why It’s Crucial to Teach Nurses About Theory
Nursing was viewed as a task-oriented profession, and nurses were trained by physicians, before the creation of nursing theories. Nursing theory is now the backbone of the profession. Nurselabs claims that it is significantly influencing the field because:
Facilitates nurses’ comprehension of their vital role in the healthcare system
Influences the formation of new ideas Influences the fields of study and application
Explicitly describes nursing with an awareness of what should serve as its foundation.
Provides a foundation for nurses to act and respond correctly in a variety of care settings by providing a scientific basis for nursing interventions.
presents the theoretical underpinnings of nursing
Offers guidance on how nursing should evolve in the future.
Creates a sense of belonging among nurses
Allows nurses’ contributions to the health care field to be recognized and appreciated by patients, management, and other professionals.
Helps nurses become critical thinkers by encouraging them to question their own nursing beliefs and ideals.
Makes it possible for nurses to continue operating within acceptable limitations and constraints
Examination of the Major Concepts in Nursing
Simply said, a big theory lives up to its name. Unlike more narrow or specific ideas, great theories in nursing cover the entire field from every angle.
The term “grand theory” refers to “broad notions pertaining to the overall character and purpose of professional nursing,” as defined by the website CareerTrend. One definition of a big theory (among many) is “a combination of academic study, practical experience, and theoretical forerunners’ (like Florence Nightingale’s) ideas.”
One of the most influential great theories in nursing was developed by Dorothea Orem in the 1950s, and it emphasizes the importance of patients taking charge of their own care. Self-care, the lack of self-care, and nursing systems make up the three main categories of Orem’s thesis.
The Roy Adaptation Model, proposed by Callista Roy in 1976, is another overarching paradigm that claims nursing’s main goal is to extend people’s lives. Angelo Gonzalez, writing for NurseLabs, describes nurses as “facilitators of adaptation” under Roy’s idea. They evaluate the patient’s behaviors to determine if they have adapted, and then they work to encourage positive adaptation by facilitating constructive interactions with the patient’s surroundings and encouraging constructive responses to stimuli. Negative coping strategies are eliminated by nurses, leading to improved health. What we mean when we say “adaptation is the process and outcome whereby thinking and feeling beings as individuals or in groups employ conscious knowledge and choice to establish human and environmental integration,” we mean that in the broadest sense possible.
In the early 20th century, Virginia Henderson, known as the “first lady of nursing,” formulated a comprehensive theory of nursing. According to Nursing Theory, this definition states that a nurse’s “unique function” is to “assist the individual, sick or well, in the performance of those activities contributing to health or its recovery (or to peaceful death) that he would perform unaided if he had the necessary strength, will, or knowledge.”
NurseLabs provides information on other influential theorists and their ideas, such as:
Ida According to Jean Orlando, “the professional duty of nursing is identifying and satisfying the immediate need of the patient,” and she “stressed the reciprocal interaction between patient and nurse.”
The nurse-client relationship is the cornerstone of nursing care, according to Hildegard Peplau, whose Theory of Interpersonal Interactions serves as the theoretical basis for the profession.
“Typology of 21 Nursing Issues” by Faye Abdellah “transitioned nursing from a disease-centered to a patient-centered perspective.”
Jean Watson, the “highlighter of humanistic components of nursing as they intersect with scientific knowledge and nursing practice,” founded the philosophy of caring.
The study of nursing theory is fundamental at all educational levels. Students enrolled in an MSN program can expect to learn advanced theoretical principles in nursing to complement their existing clinical knowledge. Individuals with a passion for teaching nursing can shape the profession’s future by utilizing existing nursing theories in their classrooms.
Students can tailor their education by selecting from one of four areas of emphasis. Adult and Geriatric Acute Care, Psychiatric Mental Health, Nurse Educator, and Family Nurse Practitioner are some of the specializations available in these programs.
Sources:
Impact of Nursing Theories
Career Trend, “Barriers to Implementing a Nursing Theory.”
Nursing Theory and Practice: A Document Sharing Project
Nursing Theories and Theorists, Nurselabs.
Nursing Research: The Adaptation Model of Sister Callista Roy
Theorist in the field of nursing; “Virginia Henderson.”
