Application of Theory Essay example

“If a patient is cold, if a patient is feverish, if a patient is faint, if he is sick after taking food, if he has a bed-sore, it is generally the fault of not of the disease, but of the nursing. I use the word nursing for want of a better” (Nightingale, 1860, p. 8). While Nightingale stressed the impact of one’s environment to promote healing, Virginia Henderson aimed to establish on the fundamental needs as a knowledge base to guide Professional nursing practice. Henderson emphasized on fourteen components required for effective nursing care which includes: breathing normally, eating and drinking adequately, elimination of body wastes, movement and posturing, sleep and rest, select suitable clothes-dress and undress, maintaining body temperature, keeping body clean and well groomed, avoiding dangers in the environment, communication, worship according to one’s faith, work accomplishments, play or participate in various forms of recreation, and learn, discover, or satisfy the curiosity (Fernandes et al., 2015). Her division of the fourteen components acknowledged patient needs with a holistic approach that is applied through the nursing process in a clinical setting.

Kristen M. Swanson may not be as well-known as Florence Nightingale in the nursing field, but she has made great contributions with the Theory of Caring that has been used in many hospitals, even internationally, for their framework to guide patient care. Through the study of her practice, I have realized much of her practice is reflected in mine. This paper will present the basic concept of nursing known as the metaparadigm concepts of person, health, environment, and nursing as presented by Swanson, as well as provide my own philosophy of nursing, which in many ways mirrors Swanson’s.

This paper will examine the origin of the nursing theory in reference to the Florence Nightingale Theory of Positive Manipulation Of the environment. Initially the paper will introduce the theorist and the context in which the theory was developed. Will critique the theory according to nursing theory critique. The paper will further describe the utility of the theory with respect to practice, administration, education and research will also examine the empirical precision of the theory(testability and logical adequacy). Infact the entire paper demonstrates the understanding of the theory.

The concept of environment and its integral role in the delivery of nursing care was among the first identified and documented nursing theory since its early days. Florence Nightingale pioneered the profession of nursing and along with it, pioneered the concept of nursing theory. Her environmental theory was patient focused and incorporated five environmental components needed to promote health. Jarrin (2012) supported that the role of nursing is to promote the best possible environment for the patient to assist in their natural reparative process. According to Rahim (2013), as considered as the profession’s first nurse theorist, Florence Nightingale provided the essential foundation in environmental theory. She believed

Traditionally, nutrition programs were targeted to the indigent and poor populations in developing countries. Many of today's Americans are malnourished also, but they are inundated with unhealthy foods and require a multidisciplinary approach to nutrition education. What would be the three most important points to include in a public nutrition program? Provide current literature to support your answer and include two nutritional education community resources.

The Environmental Theory by Florence Nightingale defined Nursing as “the act of utilizing the environment of the patient to assist him in his recovery” (Alice Petiprin, 2014). It involves the nurse’s initiative to make environmental settings appropriate to aid in the recovery of the patient’s health. According to Nightingale all external factors are somehow associated with the patient and affects their life physically, mentally, and socially (Alice Petiprin, 2014).

I will be summarizing Notes on Nursing: What It Is and What It Is Not by Florence Nightingale. Notes on Nursing: What It Is and What It Is Not was first published in 1860 with the last edition being published in 1969 (Adams-Wending, 2010). Nightingale’s theory addresses the importance of providing an environment that is conducive to the healing process for patients (Nightingale, 1860). Nightingale’s theory of the environment was based off the idea that disease was caused by smell of decomposing matter (Adams-Wending, 2010). The theory is broken down into thirteen “canons” of nursing (Nightingale, 1860). The thirteen topics within this theory are: ventilation and warming, health of houses, petty management, noise, variety, taking food, what food?, bed and bedding, cleanliness of rooms and walls, personal cleanliness, chattering of hope and advices, and observations of the sick. Nightingale (1860) states that ventilation is to make the air the patient breaths as fresh as the air outside. This also goes into detail of removing chamber pots

The World Health Organization (WHO) defined health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (Reutter & Kushner, 2010, p. 2). At Mount Royal, the Bachelor of Nursing students use a metaparadigm that has four categories: Environmental Context of Care, Person, Nursing, and Health (Thorne, 2010, p. 66). This metaparadigm describes the “substance and structure of the key bodies of knowledge that would be needed [by nurses] to understand clinical settings” (Thorne, 2010, p. 66). These four categories create the framework for nursing and demonstrate how the environment, the person, nursing, and health are all intertwined. There are several aspects of life that determine the

A healthy environment is one of the key fundamentals to live, and the lifestyle of human beings is dependent on how environmentally friendly the earth as a whole is. Almost all professions do not realize how their everyday actions impact the environment on a constant basis. One of the least friendly professions for the environment is for the most part anything medical, but more specifically Nursing. Nursing is known as the profession or practice of providing care for the sick and infirm. No matter the location of where a registered nurse is employed, whether it is a hospital, doctor’s office, or nursing home, every single one encounters environmental issues. The mass majority does not realize the effect it has on the earth and how soon their actions will affect not only them, but their patients as well. The following paper will address the role of a registered nurse to be an environmental activist with the discussion of medical waste along with proper techniques of disposal, pharmaceuticals polluting ground waters, and the controversy of nursing school failing to incorporate environmental issues of the medical field.

Each professional discipline has a responsibility to identify concepts that provide a general description of the discipline. It is these concepts that comprise the profession’s metaparadigm (Fawcett, 1984). Much of the philosophy and theory of nursing stems from the work of Florence Nightingale. The diaries, letters, and books that she left behind containing her statements and beliefs have been fundamental to the development of the concepts comprising the nursing metaparadigm (Selanders, 2010). Fawcett’s (1984) stated there was a general consensus among scholars that the concepts of nursing were person, environment, health, and nursing.

In her nursing paradigm, she stresses on taking care of the patient from all aspects of the person, incorporating the nurse-patient relationship in the plan of care, giving the nurse the responsibility of positively changing the patient’s environment and promote the act of healing. Here, she sheds light on patient education and care which is a pivotal role in community health. The concept of community health is available in every paradigm of Nightingale’s theory, and all aspects of it are discussed broadly, clearly, and qualitatively (McDonald, 2004). She set the foundations for other theorists to elaborate more explicitly and more philosophically.

Florence Nightingale is considered one of the first nursing theorists. Even though she never formally formulated a theory, her scholarly writings and written opinions on environmental manipulation for the promotion of health is well known to anyone studying nursing. Nightingale combined spirituality with nursing to give her patients the best possible care possible. Florence Nightingale began following her mother when she made rounds to the poor areas within their communities (Heggae, 2013). She later professed receiving a call to serve others. As part of her Environmental Model, she has thirteen essential points that must be addressed to promote wellness amongst the sick (Butts & Rich, 2011). These points are continually addressed in today’s nursing practice during initial assessment and ongoing assessment. Florence Nightingale points focuses on cleanliness, food, shelter, observation, and documentation. According to Heggae (2013), Nightingale focused on nurses being very observant and the ability to document accurately. Florence Nightingale was adamant in nurses being willing to challenge social policies that will impede one’s ability to heal (Heggae, 2013). Nightingale believed that nurses must have the ability to “manipulate the physical and social factors that affect health and illness so as to enhance patient recovery” (Butts & Rich,

Florence Nightingale gave us 13 canons of the environment. The major canons include ventilation, light, noise, cleanliness of rooms and walls, bed and bedding, personal cleanliness, and taking food. She theorized that changing a patient's environment is a basic component of nursing care and that when one of these components is

A professional career in which Nightingale would establish needed education and responsibilities and remain respectable until the end of time. Upon returning from a war, Nightingale was one of the first nurses to statistically research and document the impact of environment on patients. Nightingale wrote about sanitary practices, infection rates, and ventilation; it was Flo’s understanding that determined that environmental aspects such as clean air, sunlight, noise, along with a healing touch, can significantly contribute to health outcomes. Additionally, “Nightingale established nursing education by writing the first textbook on the subject in 1960, entitled Notes of Nursing” (Sampson, 2012, p.221).

Undoubtedly, there is an unswerving relationship between the theory and its application. Theory offers direction in research, and its application affords a baseline for research. In the following text, the relationship between theory and application and the manner in which a theory guides practices is espoused upon. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to show how research and theory are connected and how both serve as models for good practice in finding the appropriate information that allows investigators to resolve issues and to solve research problems, while also adding to the world’s body of knowledge (Akang, 2012).