The importance of nursing theory to the nursing profession is extensive because it presents the scientific base of the respective profession and organizes the way in which nurses deliver health care services to patients. Nursing theory in the case of a mother who has delivered a stillborn child should focuse on guiding nurses how to describe, explain, and control certain issues pertaining to their daily practice. The underlying idea of using nursing theory in practice is to improve patient care outcomes (Reed & Shearer, 2011). Nursing theory also defines boundaries within the nursing profession. In fact, nurses use this theory to attain a better and more relevant perspective about their patient care.
Despite the emerging gap between theory and practice in nursing, the implementation of some nursing theories in clinical settings illustrates the importance of nursing theory as a whole. In fact, nursing theory is as important as practice because theory provides the essential principles that guide practice and help health care professionals generate adequate nursing knowledge (Marquis & Huston, 2008). This aspect should be applied in the case of a patient who has just been told he has cancer. Moreover, nursing theory enables nurses with a sense of identity in this challenging profession so that they can recognize the importance of their own contribution to the health care sector.
In the case of a family who is unsure whether or not to place a loved one in an extended care facility, Orem’s nursing theory becomes quite applicable. The key attributes of the self-care model of nursing presented by Orem include aspects of self-care, the precise agency of self-care, therapeutic self-care demand, deficits in terms of self-care, the agency and the system of nursing (Marquis & Huston, 2008). Self-care is associated with the common activities done by individuals in order to maintain integrated functioning within the surrounding environment. It is apparent that the notion of self-care is mostly about maintaining a condition of psychological and emotional wellbeing. Self-care agency relates to the ability of persons to determine specific requirements for regulating functioning and to perform care measures.
A theory that would work best in addressing the problem of sleep deprivation is Margaret Newman’s theory of health, which uses the concept of expanding consciousness in the community and emerges as a relevant way to help individuals for whom health as the lack of disease or disability is impossible. Undoubtedly, nursing is one of the most challenging professions in terms of patient safety and quality initiatives (Newman, 1999). Its dynamic status continues to mandate that nurses practice from a framework of professionalism. The central concepts of the discipline of nursing are the person, environment, health, and overall nursing. The non-nursing theories in nursing practice come from biological, physical and behavioral sciences, which are commonly used in the practice of nursing. The non-nursing theories the theory of Maslow’s hierarchy of basic human needs, integral theory, complexity, and quality improvement. These non-nursing theories are often incorporated into nursing practice together with specific nursing theories such as the one of Margaret Newman.
Newman adequately indicates the competence of the nursing theory equating to performance, which is the capability to perform nursing tasks, and the second important aspect is proficiency as a psychological construct, which is mainly learnt with the help of non-nursing theories (Newman, 1999). Therefore, the ability to effectively integrate cognitive, affective, and psychomotor abilities when delivering nursing care practices is essential. The focus of practice in nursing has mainly been in the area of the health care practice setting. The practice shows a setting where nurses are guided to deal with the highest risk of harm and/or poor patient results that can be directly linked to nursing practice activities.
For the nursing diagnosis of caregiver role strain, Watson’s nursing theory appears relevant. According to Watson (1997), the main aspects of this theory are the following: the carative factors, the transpersonal caring relationship, and the caring moment that is taking place during patient-nurse relationship. Viewed as the core of nursing, the carative factors illustrate the grand nursing theorist’s intention to honor the human elements of nursing job. In general, these factors are comprised of certain elements that complete the entire picture of caring. It is crucial that nurses demonstrate humanistic values and altruism when encountering different cases as well as they should ensure immense sensitivity to self and others. Another significant element is that of establishing a trusting human care relationship. Likewise, the ability to express both positive and negative feelings in certain health care situations illustrates nurses’ realistic philosophy of caring. In the caring process of solving various problems, nurses need to be quite creative in order to sustain success in their daily practice.
Watson’s caring theory apparently emphasizes on the genuine teaching-learning experience related to the importance of being and meaning. The nursing theorist discusses the significance of creating a healing environment at all levels. For that reason, exploring the transpersonal caring relationship is obligatory. According to Watson, the transpersonal caring relationship refers to a certain relationship that depends on numerous factors. First, nurses are responsible for protecting human dignity and the deeper self (Watson, 1997). Second, nurses are committed to ensure adequate communication in order to preserve the embodied spirit. These processes imply that nurses go beyond an objective assessment because they extensively demonstrate serious concerns about patients’ subjective meaning related to their own health care situation.
