Introduction
The theory of nursing is highly beneficial for working with patients. In particular, it allows healthcare practitioners to share experiences and techniques of interaction with patients (Younas & Quennell, 2019). Moreover, it can improve treatment outcomes compared to traditional care practice (Younas & Quennell, 2019). The formation of a personal nursing philosophy can be influenced by four main concepts of the nursing meta paradigm and other factors. For example, the nursing philosophy of caretakers working in the ambulance and the rural areas are likely to be different. This paper aims to present personal beliefs regarding four concepts of the nursing meta paradigm and their interrelation in the framework of practice and correlate personal nursing philosophy to the existing theory.
Person
The general idea of the concept of a person in the theory of nursing comes down to the fact that when caring for a patient, a nurse must take into account their physical and mental needs, including ethical, psychological, and emotional aspects. I believe that when communicating with a patient, the nurse should perceive them as a person and be interested in their well-being at all levels. Personal attitude is beneficial since it allows acting more effectively when making a diagnosis and avoiding mistakes in determining treatment and prescribing self-care procedures.
Environment
The concept of the environment is usually understood in nursing theory as the conditions created by a nurse to bring the patient to the state that is most conducive to their self-healing. In this case, it is necessary to take into account external and internal factors of their environment (Nikfarid et al., 2018). Because the nurses represent an external factor, they have to search for the right ways to help patients better tolerate the undesirable side effects of the treatment or painful procedures. The nurse should also pay attention to the internal state of the patient, who may experience various feelings and mental conditions associated with treatment and illness. Thus, I believe that a nurse should combine knowledge with empathy and concern for the patient.
Health
The concept of health is perceived in nursing theory as a state of harmonious integrity of the body, mind, and soul. Moreover, recovery is understood as a process of returning to this wholeness. I believe that the nurse’s task is to help the patient become healthy in the fastest and most suitable way. In finding this path, understanding the patient’s personality will help, while ensuring the proper environment and developing a care plan will be the steps on this path.
Nursing
The concept of nursing, therefore, is an interaction of the previous three ideas. Consequently, I believe that nursing should be defined as caring for the patient’s health by providing them medical care and creating individual conditions that will help them focus on self-healing. Thus, my approach and personal philosophy are based mainly on the implementation of the second concept and correctly understanding the first. In particular, I believe that the personality of an individual and their perception of self should determine the nursing environment and the treatment method. Besides, correct interaction with the patient can be carried out by applying various psychological techniques. It should be based on understanding the client and their unique internal and external factors.
King’s Goal Attainment Nursing Theory
The Goal Attainment nursing theory, developed by Imogene King, was based on identifying the interaction between personal, interpersonal, and social systems – the main building blocks of her earlier Interacting Systems Theory. In particular, the Goal Attainment Theory suggests the need to take into account the dimensions of human interactions, perception, communication, role, stress, time, space, growth and development, and transactions to achieve patient recovery (Williams, 2017). For example, the concept of self-perception can have an indispensable role in helping victims of an accident or patients undergoing treatment for an illness that threatens their lives. Besides, the idea of time may imply that not all patients are willing to devote time to taking care of their health, or can strictly adhere to the schedule for taking pills.
This theory is widely used in the development of new approaches or when defining effective interaction techniques in nursing practice. Therefore, it will not be challenging to correlate it with my philosophy. In particular, I stand for the predominance of empathic and individualized perception and a comfortable atmosphere for healing. Thus, I utilize the concepts of perception, human interactions, and communication in developing an effective treatment method. My philosophy also involves working with the idea of stress, since I believe that timely stress moderation and proper confrontation help to establish good relations with the patient and help them find their path to self-healing. Finally, I include in my philosophy the concept of time in the sense that a nurse should devote a sufficient amount of quality time directly to the patient to help them recover. The calm and attentive relationship that will arise in this case will become the basis for recovery and the subsequent maintenance of the patient’s health.
Thus, the four concepts of the nursing meta paradigm were presented in the framework of their impact on personal nursing philosophy. This philosophy was also correlated with the existing King’s Goal Attainment Theory. To summarize, the four concepts include person, environment, health, and nursing. A correct understanding of these notions allows one to treat patients appropriately and lead them to a full recovery. My nursing philosophy correlates with King’s Goal Attainment Theory in terms of utilizing the ideas of perception, human interactions, communication, stress, and time in helping patients.
References
Nikfarid, L., Hekmat, N., Vedad, A., & Rajabi, A. (2018). The main nursing metaparadigm concepts in human caring theory and Persian mysticism: A comparative study. Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, 11(1), 1-15.
Williams, L. A. (2017). Imogene King’s interacting systems theory: Application in emergency and rural nursing. Online Journal of Rural Nursing and Health Care, 2(1), 40-50.
Younas, A., & Quennell, S. (2019). Usefulness of nursing theory‐guided practice: An integrative review. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 33(3), 540-555.