University
Every nurse develops a set of practices and values as he or she works and learns. In addition to the expansion of knowledge that happens as experience is accumulated, the process leads to the formation of a personal nursing philosophy. To create a unified set of standards and set goals to attain via research, nurses have to create a framework of beliefs and opinions. The works of past and current nursing theorists are used to evaluate and compare one’s philosophy to that of others. As such, this paper aims to identify the author’s personal philosophy via its relationship with the four nursing metaparadigms and its most appropriate nursing theory.
The Four Concepts of Nursing
The four metapadigms usually defined in nursing are person, environment, health, and nursing. According to Masters (2017), the first is the person affected, the second is the environment where they exist, the third is their position on the health-illness scale, and the fourth is actions within the discipline. The person in this context may mean the person who visits the hospital due to an issue, but it also includes people undergoing care at home and those who are at risk of severe issues. The last category includes large numbers of people as well as entire communities, and so nurses should be prepared to perform more than immediate, physical care. The improvement of a community’s health requires a particular set of skills that are considerably different from those used in a nurse’s everyday work.
The environment of the patient extends beyond their current location, whether in the hospital or at home. General local and national culture, as well as the person’s relationship with it, are also essential factors. Any number of factors, including a person’s upbringing and general life, can influence his or her health. As such, they should all be taken into consideration and included in the concept of the environment. However, it is not possible to learn or understand the entirety of a patient’s life, and so nurses should learn to separate essential influences in the current case from less relevant ones. The ability to do so requires considerable skills and knowledge, which can be attained through education and experience.
Nurses have to deal with many different aspects of a patient’s life when addressing his or her needs. As such, they understand health as more than physical well-being, incorporating aspects such as mental condition, adaptation, and the ability to perform social roles into it. Smith and Parker (2015) name the concept eudemonistic well-being and describe it as “a sense of well-being in the holistic, social being” (p. 191). This idea allows nurses to take care of patients with various needs and ensure that they leave care healthy and satisfied. It also lets them perform palliative care and address patient needs such as pain removal and general comfort instead of futilely trying to prolong their life.
Lastly, nursing is a broad concept, as a patient’s health can improve due to a variety of different actions, and nurses have to understand and perform them all. In addition to being technically competent, medical workers should also understand when one approach or another would be the most effective. This ability involves connecting with patients, understanding their needs, and accepting them as they are. Nurses should do their best to meet patient requirements in all situations and help them overcome any issues. To do so, they have to conduct research and determine the best practices via evidence-based research. However, personal competence remains critical, as it is always possible to cause harm by applying the inappropriate treatment.
Compatible Nursing Theory
The health promotion model by Nola J. Pender is the one most compatible with the author’s philosophy. According to Alligood (2018), it involves an analysis of the patient’s past and present behaviors and influences as well as perceptions and affects to create motivation for them to improve. It does so in a collaborative manner, avoiding the use of fear or coercion to convince the patient to abandon his or her current unhealthy habits. As such, the application of the theory can have a lasting effect on people and continue helping them become healthier even after they leave care. This theory correlates with the author’s views because they believe that it is not enough to help patients improve their health in the short term and that they have can help themselves.
Conclusion
Nursing is typically seen as the provision of care in inpatient settings by performing medical procedures to heal patients. However, its theoretical and practical aspects expand considerably beyond this perception, as nurses work to provide holistic care. They work with patients as well as entire communities to ensure that their overall well-being, as well as their perception of that well-being, improve. To do so, they have to consider various aspects of the patient’s environment and lifestyle and apply the appropriate responses. The author believes that the incidence of many issues could be reduced if people addressed their unhealthy habits. As such, they try to convince patients using the health promotion theory.
References
Alligood, M.R. (2018). Nursing theorists and their work (9th ed.). St. Louis, MI: Elsevier.
Masters, K. (ed.). (2017). Role development in professional nursing practice (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett.
Smith, M.C., & Parker, M.E. (2015). Nursing theories and nursing practice (4th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: F. A. Davis Company.