Although the health sector plays a major role in promoting health, it is also the responsibility of people to ensure their wellbeing. Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, (1986). Nurses play key roles in prevention of disease and promotion of good health in the lives of individuals, families and communities. Nurses work as a team with the other health professionals to improve and maintain good health. Interpersonal relationships is the connection that is shared between nurse and the patients.
Once schooling is over, many nurses tend to forget that nursing theory should be incorporated into daily nursing life. Nursing theories help guide the understanding of nursing practice and also enhance knowledge. As the nursing profession changes and grows, so does nursing theory. With patient centered care being the standard, a valuable theory to comprehend is Kolcaba's Theory of Comfort. This paper will provide understanding of the theory of nursing, key concepts of the theory of comfort, and how these concepts and theories are relatable to current nursing leadership.
Abstract Comfort is an important concept in nursing practice that must be used as a guide in providing holistic care to improve patient’s health status. In the history of nursing practice, the concept of comfort is vague and is often times linked to end of life situations only. Dr. Katharine Kolcaba, a teacher and a nurse researcher, developed the theory of comfort with the goal of improving the patient’s experience and overall satisfaction as well as to promote higher hospital integrity and better institutional outcomes. This paper informed the reader of the concept of Comfort Theory, its strengths and weaknesses including the barriers and challenges met when using the theory, its application and implication to critical care setting, and its relevance to healthcare professionals and to the health care system. Further on, the plan to implement the theory in critical care nursing was presented.
Compare and Contrast Two Nursing Theorists Callista Roy’s model is that of adaptation, which is an ever-changing point made up of different stimuli tailored to each individual and their specific needs. Dorothea Orem’s model is self-care, which is a human function that is deliberate in providing the necessary means for a productive and healthy life and development. These theories guide nurses to use the power of observation and interpersonal skills in doing an individualized assessment of each patient. NURSING THEORISTS WORKSHEET Nursing Theorist | Theoretical Framework (metaparadigm) | Theory Summary | Application to Nursing Practice | Nightingale, Florence | Environmental theory, Theory of practice | Ventilation, light, warmth, and noise level are essential in creating a safe environment for patients. Nightingale believed in treating the person itself and not just the disease.
By applying the Watson caring theory in caring for patients, “it allows nurses to practice the art of caring, to provide compassion to ease patients’ and families’ suffering, and to promote their healing and dignity but it can also contribute to expand the nurse’s own actualization” (Cara, 2003, p 2). Watson believes it is crucial that nurses apply caring values to their practice because it is essentially a byproduct in discovering the meaning of the nursing profession (Theory of Human Caring, n.d.). The foundation of this paper is to expound on the caring theory Jean Watson designed “to bring meaning and focus to nursing as a distinct health profession” (Cara, 2003, p 2). Description of the Theorist In the 1940’s, Jean Watson was born in West Virginia in a small town in the Appalachian Mountains. In 1961, graduated from the Lewis Gale School of Nursing, furthering her career at the University of Colorado in Boulder in 1964, received a bachelor’s degree, in 1966 a Master’s degree in psychiatric and mental health nursing and in 1973, a Ph.D. in educational psychology and counseling.
Feb 2013 intake The role of the Nurse in Health Care This essay will give an insight into the role of a nurse in an ever changing profession and society. It will high light certain qualities required for nursing and focus on the importance of ‘Patient centred care’. Nurses require the ability to work autonomously and as a team member to deliver care to a variety of individuals, in a variety of settings. A nurse’s role is to support individuals to live as independently as possible, to prevent illness, to care for the sick and when death is inevitable, to support and improve quality of life till the end. It is also the nurse’s responsibility to act as an advocate for her patient, to provide a safe environment and to safe guard the patient.
The person as defined in Henderson’s model is all encompassing; it applies to the sick, the well and the dying. Caring would include a genuine interaction with the patient, being a source of comfort and strength, and when the patient is well, the nurses must make sure to empower the patients to take care of themselves. Moreover, during that time, nurses functions were not identified programs for skills training and even education varied from school to school, to countries and even in hospitals .There were also legal barriers to how nurses should carry out their duties, which made the profession’s position in healthcare ambiguous and misunderstood. Nursing is primarily helping people in performing basic bodily functions that they are able to do if they are well and to provide this care and help in a limited time only (Henderson, 1991). It stressed more on what the nurses should do and who should they take care of and thus belongs to the reciprocal interaction world view category.
This paper will display the theoretical framework of Virginia Henderson and include an educational plan and implementation of Henderson’s theory to a medical surgical unit. Overview Henderson defined nursing as helping people, sick or well, in the performance of those activities contributing to health and its recovery or to a peaceful death. They would perform these activities unaided if they had the necessary strength, will, or knowledge (Fitzpatrick & Whall, 2005). Henderson believed nurses need to teach the patient to care for self. She also believed that rehabilitation is the responsibility of the nurse.
In order for a nurse to deliver patient focused care, they must first develop an effective nurse-patient relationship with the service users that they care for. This is important in order to ensure that the highest quality of care is provided to the patient. As, according to Sheldon (2009), a nurse-patient relationship is based upon the commitment of a nurse to work alongside their patient’s, in order to deliver personal and effective care which meets the identified health needs. Patient focused care involves the patient and nurse working together as a partnership and places the patient and their relatives central to decision making in regards to the planning, implementation and assessment of care. An equal nurse-patient relationship is important in order to ensure that safe, effective and personal health care is delivered and that the patients’ needs are appropriately met (The Health Foundation, 2012).
NURSING ETHICS 1 Abstract Nursing is a profession that values character, ethics, and good morals. Nurses use these standards daily and if they are not taken seriously they can have major impacts on patient’s as well as colleagues. Over centuries the role of nursing and the ideal image of what it means to be a nurse have changed drastically. Nursing has evolved and has lead to broad professional possibilities and brighten the horizon for the nursing field. "The American Nurses Association (ANA) defines nursing as the protection, promotion, and optimization of health abilities; prevention of illness and injury; alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response; and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations (ANA, 2010b)."