Nursing
During Modules One through Seven of this course, you studied the foundation of nursing philosophy, science of nursing, and various nursing and interdisciplinary theories. This knowledge led to your reflection on your worldview or lens informing professional nursing practice. You wrote a professional nursing practice philosophy. For Assignment Two, you demonstrated knowledge of theory analysis framework and the contributions of Florence Nightingale in the development of nursing as a profession. Now it is time to use the theory analysis framework to study multiple theories and demonstrate actual or potential use of these theories in practice. This assignment is due in Module Seven.
To complete this assignment study at least two theories discussed in this course. Other theories may be used with faculty of record permission.
Prepare a 4-5 page discourse that reflects thoughtful consideration and comprehensive study of these theories. Present a written discourse using the theory analysis framework to create a well-organized thoughtful paper. Incorporate use of scholarly references, historical artifacts, and various theory resources (print, video, internet, museum artifacts). Cite references correctly throughout the paper and include in the references section of the paper.
Conclude this assignment with a personal reflection on use of these theories in your nursing practice. Include your perceptions of the most important contributions of your chosen theories to professional nursing practice.
The following criteria are used to assign points to this assignment:
The written work is presented in a well-organized thoughtful paper where multiple theories used in nursing are explored. Discuss at least two theories in addition to a potential summary reflection on the influence of Florence Nightingale in the development of these theories (if applicable).
There is evidence of at least two theories incorporated into the paper, in addition to a summary discourse on Florence Nightingale’s influence on these theories.
A contemporary nursing practice issue is incorporated into the paper (preferably from the student’s own experience). Theory discussion demonstrates application of knowledge to contemporary nursing practice.
Provides references for 4 to 6 scholarly articles and from course texts that discuss or define the topic.
Paper is written in APA style without grammar, spelling and punctuation errors.
Length of paper should be 4-5 pages (body of text). Length of written discourse does not include the title page, figures, diagrams or reference pages.
All nursing students are required to submit assignment by end of the academic week. This assignment will be evaluated based on the stated point values and criteria as stated in the rubric and is due in Module Seven.
Final Project Rubric
Competency
20 Points
15 Points
5 Points
0 Points
Points Achieved
Content: analysis
Incorporates at least two theories into the paper in addition to a summary on Nightingale’s influence.
Incorporates at least two theories into the paper, but no summary on Nightingale’s influence.
Incorporates one theory into the paper, no summary on Nightingale’s influence.
Does not address component.
/20
Content: application
A contemporary nursing practice issue from the student’s own experience is incorporated into the paper.
A contemporary nursing issue from the student’s reading is incorporated into the paper.
No issue is discussed or there is no evidence that the issue is relevant to the student’s experience
Does not address component.
/20
Quality: resources & research
Provides references for 4 to 6 scholarly articles and from course texts that support the topic
Provides references for 3 articles and references one text to support the topic.
Provides references for less than 2 articles and/or no references to text.
Does not address component.
/20
Quality: reflection
Includes self-reflection on use of theory in own nursing practice.
Includes a brief self-reflection on use of theory in own nursing practice.
Includes minimal evidence of self-reflection.
Does not address component.
/20
Competency
10 Points
8 Points
4 Points
Points Achieved
Grammar, spelling, and punctuation
There are no errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation
There are a few minor (1-2) errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation that do not detract from the meaning
There are major errors (3-5) in grammar, spelling, and punctuation that do not reflect doctoral writing
Does not address component.
/10
APA Compliance
The paper meets APA formatting guidelines.
There are a few minor errors (1-2) in APA formatting.
There are significant errors (3-5) in the APA format of the paper.
Does not address component.
/10
Total
/100
ANSWER
Nursing Theories
Introduction
The nursing practices have been influenced by several theories that focus on improving nursing and the health outcomes in the healthcare environment. Nursing theories have aimed at predicting, describing, and explaining the phenomenon of nursing. They offer the foundations of nursing practice and help generate further knowledge to improve nursing practices in the future. This paper will focus on Hildegard Peplau’s Interpersonal Relations Theory and Virginia Henderson’s Need Theory, a summary of Nightingale’s Influence on the two theories, and a personal reflection on the use of these nursing theories in my nursing practice.
Hildegard Peplau’s Interpersonal Relations Theory
Hildegard Peplau has been universally recognized as the mother of psychiatric nursing. Her clinical and theoretical work led to establishing a distinct specialty that led to the greatest changes since Nightingale’s theory. Hildegard Peplau’s describes how the relationship between the patient and the nurse changes over time (Adams, 2017). According to the interpersonal relations theory, the partnership between the client and nurses is very important in the nursing practice. Considerably, this enables the healthcare providers and nurses to establish a more therapeutic intervention within the clinical setting.
The major components of the theory include person, environment, health, and nursing. Ideally, a person entails the individual receiving care; the environment comprises existing external forces put in the context of norms and culture. Health symbolizes the forward movement of nursing and personality, while nursing is the interpersonal therapeutic process that functions cooperatively with other human processes. The theory recognized the significance of the patient’s nursing care experience and how these experiences are influenced by the patient and nurse relationship (Adams, 2017).
Hildegard Peplau’s theory has explained the interpersonal process stages that facilitate the interaction between the nurse and the patient. Through the seven stages of Interpersonal relations theory, nurses have ensured a positive patient and nurse relation. In the first stage, the nurses receive the patient and begin to develop trust. During the first stage, the patients realize that they require help and thus attempt to adjust to the new experiences. The nurses meet the patients and gain adequate information about the individual (Cheraghi et al., 2017). The second stage allows the nurse to answer questions and offer the patient information about the care plan. The nurses are allowed to make assessments to gain information essential in the interdisciplinary plan of care.
The third stage entails educating the patient about their health status and how they can manage the disease. The fourth stage entails helping the patients understand their treatment and disease process. In the fifth stage, the nurses act as the patient’s advocate, while in the sixth stage, they help the patient be responsible for their treatment goals. The final stage is where the nurses take part in the technical expert role by offering care and essential equipment required to care for them.
Virginia Henderson’s Need Theory
Virginia Henderson established the Nursing Need Theory, which describes the exclusive focus of the nursing. Henderson’s nursing experience defined what nursing should not be and contributed to the theory of development knowledge. By observing patients during hospitalization, Henderson was able to grasp what was missing in hospitals’ provision of care. According to Henderson, nursing practice is most effective when the nurses can maintain a constant interpretation and observation of patient behavior (Ahtisham and Jacoline, 2015). The idea theory is to focus on the significance of boosting the client’s independence to improve their progress in the healthcare environments.
Virginia paid attention to the fundamental human necessities and how nurses can enable them to meet those needs. Virginia believed that the nurses’ role is an independent one, which entails advocating for the client when they lack physical ability, knowledge, and the drive to perform their normal tasks (Ferrari et al., 2014). The major assumptions in the Nursing Need Theory are the patient’s desire to restore their health; nurses are willing to devote and attend to the clients, that the nurses ought to care for the clients until they are able to care for themselves and that the body and mind are interconnected and inseparable.
Henderson’s goal was not to generate the Nursing theory but to describe the application of nursing practice. The theory focused on fundamental basic needs to be the central focus of nursing practice. According to Henderson, the nurse’s role is to help an individual in significant activities such as recovery, maintaining health, and achieving peaceful death.
The major concepts that define the theory include individual, health, nursing, and environment. Henderson state that individuals have the fundamental needs that are the components of health and need assistance to achieve independence and health (Ferrari et al., 2014). According to Henderson, an individual tends to achieve completeness by maintaining emotional balance. The patient is considered as someone who requires nursing care, which focuses on more than illness care. Upholding a supportive setting is one component that Henderson identified in the fourteen activities for client assistance. Health has been defined in the 14 basic needs which are required for an individual to perform effectively. Henderson has emphasized the significance of preventing disease and promoting health since optimal health can be challenging for some to acquire. Nurses are considered as major persons in promoting health through their ability to cure and prevent illness. Numerous factors challenge quality care, such as emotional balance, age, and cultural background.
Henderson’s theory aims to offer the principles that construct effective nurse practice and generate further nursing knowledge. The theory has helped the nurses understand their significance and role in the nursing healthcare environment. Henderson Need’s Theory can be utilized in the nursing practice as a way for the nurses to set their goals based on the 14 components. Ideally, meeting the 14 needs can be a great basis for further improvement of nursing care. The theory has also enabled the nursing students to understand the importance of theory in clinical conditions. The theory gives the nursing a sense of identity and enables patients to acknowledge nurses’ unique contribution within the healthcare environment.
Nightingale Influence
The Florence Nightingale theory is considered as the first nursing theory. The theory of Florence Nightingale has influenced both Henderson’s Need Theory and Interpersonal relations theory. Ideally, the environmental theory focused on the external conditions that influence the health process and development of a patient’s health (Mughal and Irshad, 2017). The two theorists Henderson and Peplau’s focused on Nightingale’s needs to change the face of nursing practice. The focus of nursing in both theories has been influenced by Nightingale’s need to alter the patient environment to improve health outcomes (Rahim, 2013). Being the first theory to focus on patient care rather than the nursing process, Nightingale ensured that nursing’s goal is to offer the best possible condition to promote health within the caregiving setting.
Theories interrelate concepts in a manner that they generate diverse ways of viewing into an occurrence (McEwen and Wills, 2017). Nightingale has stimulated the development of nursing practice and science with her work. The Major components of Nightingale’s environmental theory have influenced and paved the way for developing the two theories. The major components include nursing, health, environment, and human beings. Nursing entails understanding what nursing has to do with putting the patient in the best possible condition. Human beings are defined by external conditions that impact the environment.
Environment plays an essential role in improving the patient’s health outcomes. Attainment of good health is the main goal in nursing activities, and that nurses should offer care that responds to the health needs of the patient. Nightingale has enabled the theorists to define nursing practice differently from medicine since nursing’s goal is to put the patient in the best possible condition. The nursing theorists have focused on the nursing practice and control of the healthcare setting to maintain and improve the patient’s health outcomes. Ideally, Nightingale suggested that nurses observe the client’s response to the environment to evaluate health outcomes.
Personal Reflection
Interpersonal relationship theory has enabled me to engage in an interpersonal process and a therapeutic connection with the client. The interpersonal bond has enabled me to understand my behavior and help others be familiar with the perceived complications. My nursing practice has improved through a therapeutic relationship that allows patients and nurses to collaborate with the end aim being to meet the patient’s needs.
I have relied on Virginia Henderson’s Need theory while practicing patient-centered care. The 14 components discussed in theory have been essential in increasing the patient’s independence and boost their progress in the hospital. As a nurse practitioner, I have distinguished nurse roles within the healthcare environment, caring for the sick and educating them on how to care for themselves. This has offered me the ability to work in the healthcare team concerning the individualized care plan.
The interpersonal relationship theory’s major contribution is focused on the patient-nurse bond as the basis of the nursing practice. This theory emphasized the nurse-client relationship and the importance of a partnership between the client and the nurses instead of the traditional practices where the client inactively received treatment, while the nurses gave the orders. On the other hand, Virginia’s Need Theory’s major contribution is boosting the client’s independence to improve their practice in hospitals. The theory focuses on patient care that helps the patients attain a level of independence, which entails nursing education and care.
References
Adams, L. Y. (2017). Peplau’s contributions to psychiatric and nursing knowledge. Journal of Mental Health and Addiction Nursing, 1(1), e10-e18.
Ahtisham, Y., & Jacoline, S. (2015). Integrating Nursing Theory and Process into Practice; Virginia’s Henderson Need Theory. International Journal of Caring Sciences, 8(2).
Cheraghi, F., khatiban, M., borzou, R., hosayni, P., & vatandost, S. (2017). Application of Peplau’s theory of Interpersonal Relations in Nursing Practice: A systematic review study. Scientific Journal of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedical Faculty, 3(2), 1-11
Ferrari, R. F. R., Rodrigues, D. M. M. R., Baldissera, V. D. A., Pelloso, S. M., & Carreira, L. (2014). Applicability of the Virginia Henderson theory for foundations in nursing: weaknesses and potential. Arquivos de Ciências da Saúde da UNIPAR, 18(1), 51-57.
McEwen, M., & Wills, E. M. (2017). Theoretical basis for nursing. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
Mughal, F. B., & Irshad Ali, B. H. (2017). Enhancing patient well-being: Applying environmental theory in nursing practice. Annals of Nursing and Practice, 4(3), 1085.
Rahim, S. (2013). Clinical application of Nightingale’s environmental theory. i-manager’s Journal on Nursing, 3(1), 43.
