Theories as the Basis for Nursing Practice Essay Example for Free

Theories as the Basis for Nursing Practice Essay Abstract Theory development is the fundamental step for expansion of nursing knowledge. The knowledge has been borrowed from different disciplines to build the nursing theories. The categorization of theories is based on their scope of practice. The grand nursing theories are the most complex and abstract in their nature. Middle range theories are inducted mostly from grand nursing theories. Orem’s self-care model is clear and descriptive; the theory has been applied, analyzed in a precise method to various areas in the current nursing practice successfully. A comprehensive knowledge of nursing theories is an integral part of graduate nursing. Initially I was also wondering just like the graduate student in the beginning of chapter 2 in (McEwen amp; Willis, 2011) about the application of theory to nursing practice. However the initial theory classes were lot of information in a short duration. Over the time of the course it became clear that theory development in nursing has been crucial to nursing emerging as a profession. The knowledge for nursing theory development has been based on silent knowledge, where the role is limited to following physician orders, received knowledge; this is the information from other fields like sociology, psychology, physiology and anthropology. Later on the theory development was based on individual experiences, practical skills and procedures and empirical data and evidence based practices (McEwen amp; Willis, 2011). Initially it was extremely difficult to comprehend the grand theories, however, as mentioned by Professor Williams (2012) analyzing the grand theories in the context of meta paradigms like human, environment, nursing and health made it quite interesting and simple to understand M. Y. Williams (personal communication, October 12, 2012). The analysis of theories based on the concept development and the logical relationships between the concepts, provides the opportunity to conduct further research in the nursing practice. Grando (2005) described the use of Orem’s theory to guide nursing practice as an example of modern nursing to distinguish nursing from medicine. Grando (2005) successfully implemented a self-care deficit model while treating patients to maintain mental health functioning. She developed a tool based on conditioning of the basic human factors leads to self care requisites like changing behaviors, re framing the habits and managing feelings. Grando (2005) was able to cultivate self care agencies like adequate knowledge, judgment and perception modification to facilitate aintenance of mental health. SCNDT has been successfully implemented in various settings like care of the patient with learning disability. Orem’s model was used in the nursing process to assess the needs of a patient named Sara suffering with Asthma and formulated the nursing diagnosis and care plan based on the needs identified. â€Å"The human needs are categorized into food, air, water, shelter, rest, social interaction, prevention of hazards and maintaining adequate normal function level† (Horan, Doran amp; Timmins, 2004, p. 35 ). The patient was asked to maintain a diary of all the teachings and the interventions to track the progress of the care plan. The conclusion of the study was: It proved as a useful frame work in this situation because Sara was involved in the entire process. From this she became aware of issues relating to her self- care needs and how to meet them. The authors have found that using Orem’s (2001) model in this practice setting has greatly enhanced Sara’s self-care abilities and acknowledgement of deficits plus, preventing possible future problems.