Nursing – Theories and Concepts of Nursing

Nursing – Theories and Concepts of Nursing
Florence Nightingale
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Introduction
One feature of any particular profession is to exhibit a distinctive body of knowledge. The impulsion for that knowledge may be inform of a model, theory or framework. A conceptual framework, which is more typical of a model, is regarded as a set of concepts and the assumptions that assimilate them into a significant configuration. A theory on the other hand, is a set of interrelated concepts, proportions and definitions, which provides a systematic view of a phenomenon by specifying such a relationship. The incorporation of nursing practice theories and concepts in a health care setting is an illustration that the nursing practitioners embrace nursing as a professional. In addition, these theories and concepts facilitates the advancement of these profession as well as meeting the needs that were established set by the American Nurses Credentialing Center' (ANCC's) Magnet Recognition Program ( Horton et al, 2011).
Nursing theory provides an organized structure for a nursing practitioner to effectively answering queries regarding his or her profession. In essence, there are four major concepts which nursing theories use to predict, explain, describe or control the phenomena that are related to the practice of nursing. Each nursing theory addresses the four main concepts such as the environment, person, health and the nursing itself. Moreover, each of these theories defines these concepts in different ways. For instance, while other theories describe nursing as a process of human interaction, there are those stressing the nurse’s role as assisting patients in maintaining their health status (Kim, 2005).
The concepts on the other hand, assist in directing the nursing practices with a particular health organization. For instance, nurse practitioners at a psychiatric health facility may decide to embrace the king’s model in guiding their ways of interacting with their clients. Home health agencies may decide to use the Neumann’s model, which emphasizes on maintaining the health status of clients while at their residence. When nurse practitioners employ a specific theory in nursing, you will find that all of these nurses will employ the same language. They then share the development with their colleagues, and make sure that their practices with regard to patient care are consistent (Kim, 2005). The purpose of this paper is to examine Florence Nightingale’s nursing theory and its application effectiveness to the nursing practice.
Why I chose Florence Nightingale Theory
I chose to explore Florence Nightingale’s theory since the woman is a well-known figure not only to the nursing fraternity, but also to many other people, for her contribution to the effective nursing practices. In fact if you go along asking any nurse (except a quack) concerning who Florence Nightingale was, and what he did, most will be able to respond that she is the mother of the modern nursing practices. To many such, this may be the limit of their knowledge. But this lady who served as a catalyst for transforming the perception of nursing profession and healthcare in general , was more of a woman with a lamb mostly identified for her efforts in attending to injured solders in the middle of the night.
Today, Nightingale is being talked as being both a historical figure as well as a leader. Her philosophies and theories are still relevant and still being utilized in today’s perspective. Nursing is regarded as being the universal caregiver profession around the world. With the estimated populace of more than 20 million nurses around the world, nurses are considered as being capable of creating an impact to their clients and also the policies they use for their practices. Nightingale has been credited for establishing that legacy for the profession of nursing.
Florence Nightingale’s Environmental Theory
Nightingale introduced many nursing theories that are still being used in the field of nursing today. One of such theories is the environment theory, integrating the patient’s physical environment in her or his nursing care plan. This theory postulates that, the main function of a nurse is to utilize the patient’s environment so as to make him or her get well and go back to the normal environment. The reason as to why the environment is perceived as being crucial is because it influences the health of a patient in either a negative or positive manner. Some factors related to the environment and which influence the patient’s health in accordance to Nightingale includes: pure water, fresh air, adequate food, effective drainage systems, cleanness, light, proper nutrition and sunlight. If any of these factors are missing or inadequate, then the patient’s recovery is subsequently delayed. Florence Nightingale also stressed th...