Description
I need one response to each peer, each one should include references, I am also including my original post
Kimeh:When I originally saw that this course was about nursing theory, I was not very interested. I believed I had already learned about nursing theory in my undergraduate nursing degree and didn’t see the correlation between theory and my advanced nursing degree. As we started this course and have continued to learn throughout, I have seen not only how nursing theory will be useful in my future advanced practice role, but was able to correlate many of the theories we discussed in my current practice as a bedside nurse. In my specialty of Labor and Delivery, I see nursing practices based on nursing theory every day. Time and time again, I see that theory guides practice (McEwen & Wills, 2023). From the way we structure our orientation process to the way we comfort our patients and help them cope with the process of labor and delivering a baby, to the difficult moments during and after they sadly lose a baby, the basis of everything we do is based on nursing theories. Two examples I see used predominately are the Theory of Caring and the Theory of Comfort. I’ve seen Watson’s Theory of Caring as it promotes a healing environment for patients. Nurses are emotionally and physically present by providing support until the end of the childbirth process. Nurses encourage, motivate, build rapport, and assist patients with managing their anxiety throughout the labor process as well. All of these efforts promote healing and caring and encourage a more mother-centered care (Al-Maharma et al., 2021). The Theory of Comfort provides care from a holistic approach by implementing comfort interventions that are inclusive from physical, social, environmental, and psychospiritual aspects. The premise of this theory is for the nurse to discover what would make a patient most comfortable and provide interventions to holistically make them the most comfortable and has been shown to help reduce the pain perception of the patient during labor (Unutkan & Yangin, 2023). There are many other theories that I have seen used in current practice. I’ve learned a tremendous amount about nursing theories this term and am more inclined to incorporate more theories that will assist in my role as a Nurse Educator in the future.
References
McEwen, M., & Wills, E. M. (2023). Theoretical Basis for Nursing (6th ed.). Wolters Kluwer
Al-Maharma, D. Y., Safadi, R. R., Durham, R., Halasa, S. N., & Nassar, O. S. (2021a). Mothers’ and midwives’ and nurses’ perception of caring behaviors during childbirth: A comparative study. SAGE Open, 11(2), 215824402110245. https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440211024555
Unutkan, A., & Balci Yangın, H. (2023). Can labor support based on Kolcaba’s theory reduce the negative consequences of fear of childbirth? A pilot study. Journal of reproductive and infant psychology, 1–14. Advance online publication. https://doi-org.libauth.purdueglobal.edu/10.1080/0…
Yesenia:When I started this course, I didn’t know what to expect. I remember struggling to get through the first reading assignments, thinking I wasn’t very interested in the content. Overtime, as I learned more about different theories and how they are applied in practice, I gained more interest. I’ve learned that theory is an essential component to guiding nursing care.
While I didn’t realize it, until taking this course, theory is used in my practice environment. In the NICU, we manipulate the environment in many capacities to provide the optimal environment for our babies to grow, develop, and thrive. This practice is derived from Florence Nightingale’s environment theory. Hendy, et al., (2022) in their research found “Applying a healing environment and clustering nursing care significantly improved respiration, heart rate, oxygen saturation, and systolic blood pressure” (p. 1351). In applying Nightingale’s environment theory, we are promoting healing and improving developmental outcomes.
In the NICU, everything we do is geared toward minimizing stressors and increasing comfort. Kolcaba’s comfort theory promotes the concept of providing comfort to patients in order to decrease stressors which increases patients’ strength, resulting in, improved health outcomes. Lafond, et al., (2019) wrote “Comfort in this context is defined as a state of ease and well-being influenced by the caring and actions of nursing, which in turn leads to transcending the circumstances of symptom distress, functional status, and QOL” (p. 383). When conducting a stressful or painful procedure, we keep baby swaddled, offer sucrose, and a pacifier to minimize stress and painful stimuli. In doing so, we are comforting the patient, improving patient outcomes.
McEwen and Wills (2023) wrote “It is widely believed that use of theory offers structure and organization to nursing knowledge and provides a systemic means of collecting data to describe, explain, and predict nursing practice. I learned theory offers a framework to guide practice in addressing issues, promoting health, and providing high quality care. In my current practice, while it may not be obvious, theory is immersed in everything we do.
References
Hendy, A., Alsharkawy, S. S., & El-Nagger, N. S. (2022). The outcomes of a healing environment and clustering nursing care on premature infants’ vital signs, pain, and sleeping. Journal of Medicine and Life, 15(11), 1347–1351. https://doi.org/libauth.purdueglobal.edu/10.25122/jml-2022-0253
Lafond, D., Bowling, S., Fortkiewicz, J., Reggio, C., & Hinds, P. (2019). Integrating the comfort theory™ into pediatric primary palliative care to improve access to care. Journal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing, 21(5), 382–389. https://doi.org/10.1097/NJH.0000000000000538
McEwen, M., & Wills, E. M. (2023). Theoretical basis for nursing (6th ed.). Wolters Kluwer.
My post:At the beginning of the class, I spent most of my time questioning how abstract concepts and models in nursing could directly impact my daily practice as a nurse. However, as the course progressed, I began to realize the significance of nursing theory in guiding nursing practice and decision-making in patient care. In my current practice environment, I can see firsthand how nursing theory is integrated into patient care. With this, I have noted that understanding concepts like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and the Health Promotion Model has allowed me to provide individualized patient care based on their needs.
Theories guide my decision-making process and help me evaluate the effectiveness of interventions and make necessary adjustments to optimize patient outcomes. For instance, when caring for a patient with multiple chronic conditions, I applied the Theory of Chronic Sorrow to understand their emotional response to their health challenges. This theory helped me identify the patient’s feelings of grief and loss associated with their chronic illnesses. As supported in research by Nevergall(2020), the theory also allowed me to provide emotional support and coping strategies to enhance their well-being. The nursing theory has been instrumental in shaping my approach to patient-centered care. Also, the Person-Centered Care Theory, pioneered by Carl Rogers (Joseph, 2020), emphasizes the importance of understanding the patient’s unique perspective and involving them in decision-making.
While nursing theory has proven valuable in my practice, I have also observed a theory-practice gap in some healthcare settings. Not all nurses may have received comprehensive education on nursing theories, leading to limited understanding and application of theoretical concepts in practice. This knowledge gap can hinder the seamless integration of theory into daily patient care, preventing nurses from fully benefiting from the potential advantages of nursing theory. Moreover, the demanding workload and time constraints in the clinical setting often leave little room for nurses to explore and apply theoretical concepts. Nurses may focus primarily on completing tasks and meeting immediate patient needs, leaving less time for reflection and incorporating theoretical perspectives into their practice. In some cases, there may be resistance to change within healthcare institutions. This resistance can prevent the adoption of new approaches, including those based on nursing theory, leading to a disconnect between theory and practice.
Healthcare institutions should prioritize ongoing education and nurse professional development programs to address the theory-practice gap. These programs should emphasize the practical applications of nursing theories and provide opportunities for nurses to reflect on their practice and integrate theoretical concepts into their decision-making process.Furthermore, fostering a supportive and encouraging environment that values critical thinking and evidence-based practice can significantly contribute to bridging the theory-practice gap. Organizational leaders should promote interdisciplinary collaboration and research initiatives, providing nurses with the necessary resources and time to explore and apply nursing theories in their practice. By addressing the theory-practice gap, we can unlock the full potential of nursing theory to enhance patient care and improve patient outcomes. Embracing nursing theory as a fundamental pillar of nursing practice can lead to more effective and compassionate care, ultimately elevating healthcare quality for all patients.
Joseph, S. (2020). Why we need a more humanistic positive organizational scholarship: Carl Rogers’ person-centered approach as a challenge to neoliberalism. The Humanistic Psychologist, 48(3), 271.
Nevergall, T. L. (2020). A cognitive-behavioral therapy and pet-assisted therapy program for the treatment of grief and persistent grief (Doctoral dissertation, Capella University).
