Nursing Theory Comparison
Hello, This would be a revision of the previous paper you wrote. I have included the feedback from the instructor and the original essay. Thank you
This paper needs a great deal of work. Let's begin with utilizing headings for each section. Your lack of headings left your paper without direction and there were many areas that were missed. For example, the testability, assumptions, and parsimony were not clearly identified. For your final paper, please utilize a heading for each rubric section to help with clarifying your thoughts.
Both nursing theories serve as frameworks to understand nursing via the identification of relevant experiences that require examination. The importance of your two nursing theories, in general, to the nursing profession is discussed with substance. Philosophical underpinnings refer to the material and construction used for the support and structure of a theory or theoretical framework. Philosophical underpinnings often serve as the foundation for research papers. You needed to review the philosophical underpinnings / theoretical framework involved in both theories with detail. Assumptions are statements accepted as given truths without proof. In order to use a theory, the assumptions must be accepted by the user. Assumptions set the foundation for the application of a particular theory. Concepts are words that describe objects, properties, or events and are basic components of theory. Concepts are organized within and around theories. Four concepts common in nursing theory that influence and determine nursing practice are:
The person (patient)
The environment
Health
Nursing (goals, roles, functions)
Each of these concepts is usually defined and described by a nursing theorist. Of the four concepts, the most important is that of the person. The focus of nursing is the person. You did not clearly identify your assumptions and concepts
You needed to clearly examine the relationships that exist within the theories you have selected to examine. The relationship between theory and practice is mutual.
Theory can also be used to guide the research process by generating and testing phenomena of interest. The primary purpose of theory in the profession of nursing is to improve practice by positively influence the health and quality of life of patients. A theory is considered useful if it can generate new ideas and new discoveries. You needed to discuss the testability of both theories.
Good job here on explaining how you would apply both theoretical frameworks to both nursing and your individual practice structure. You gave detail on how you would apply these theories to your individual practice.
You needed to discuss parsimony with adequate attention to detail.
Thanks for your submission!
Brittany Farris
West Coast University
NRS 500
October 11, 2020
Nursing Theory Comparison
Introduction
Nursing theories reflect the needs of nurses at the time of their development. They explain the nurses’ role in creating an environment where there is a high likelihood of optimizing patient output. Virginia Henderson, between 1955 up to 1966, came up with a nursing theory heavily borrowing concepts from the Abraham Maslow hierarchy of mass needs; thus, a nurse competency gets shaped universally depending on the patient’s requirement to attain independence. She wanted to define nursing as a separate discipline with its philosophical underpinnings distinct from other medical health disciplines. However, from Henderson’s theory, the synergy model was developed, and it emphasized the importance of the cordial relationship between the patient and the nurse in enhancing achieving patient needs. Usually, integrating the nursing theories into real-life practice is a challenge to many nurses. As a result, this essay presents a nursing theory comparison between the Virginia Henderson nursing theory and the synergy model in terms of their philosophical underpinnings, significant assumptions, concepts, and their clinical application.
Background to Virginia Henderson’s Theory
According to a nursing theory by Virginia Henderson, a nurse’s core duty is to create an enabling environment where the patient can gain independence. Therefore, the nurse should empower and prepare the patient for life after discharge from the hospital. In her argument, she listed 14 components of the areas cutting across physiological, social, spiritual, and psychological dimensions where the nurse should assist the patient. In other words, the nurse plays three significant roles in a patient’s life as; a substitute where they do responsibilities that otherwise a healthy patient would do on their own, supplementary, or works in a complementary mode where they work in solidarity with the patient.
Background to Synergy Model Theory
Whereas the Synergy model stresses that patient and their family needs contribute to universally shaping the nurses’ competencies. In other words, there should be a cordial relationship between the patient and the nurse to enhance the nursing practice in achieving optimal patient outcomes. The relationship should be mutual, where both play their genuine part in achieving the common medical goal of enhanced service to the patient. Therefore, the nurse is a professional who must devise ways of bonding with the patient to enhance open conversation where there is a positive feedback mechanism. The patient can only open up when there is a sense of involvement and compassion from the nurse in charge.
Philosophical Underpinnings of Virginia Henderson’s Theory
Henderson’s theory anchors in four major concepts: the individual, environment, health, and nursing. Consequently, the individual possesses those 14 needs that are essential for good health. Since the individual cannot attain all the basic requirements, there is a need for assistance to regain their ability to act independently to acquire the necessities. The individual possesses a mind and a soul that is interrelated and require holistic physiological, spiritual, psychological, and social fulfillment. The various dimensions that contribute to a holistic state of a human being must be in harmony to fasten the maximum patient output. For a patient to acquire the basic 14 highlighted requirements, the nurse should focus not only on the medication but also on the patient’s spiritual balance in the specific faith they conform to and the introduction of relevant social activities such as various games.
Philosophical Underpinnings of Synergy Model Theory
On the other hand, the synergy model aims to achieve maximum patient output by creating a significant interaction between the patient and the nurse, forming a link between the psychological and social domains (Rusk et al., 2018). Therefore, the philosophical underpinning of the synergy model tends to emphasize bond creation. Once there exist a mutual relationship between the nurse and the patient, the patient will adhere to medication instructions and feel cared for, thus facilitating the recovery process. If there is a synergy between the nurse and the patient, there is a high likelihood of patient recovery. Therefore, the patient should strive to ensure that they regain their health by inquiring from the nurse about safe practices that they should engage in to enhance their health. The nurse should create a mutual bond of interaction with the patient to become sustainable with the possibility of high patient output. Without harmonious existence between the nurse and the patient, the patient will not be holistically prepared to embrace the medication process since they may get psychologically disturbed by the nature of the treatment they receive from the nurses. Equally, nurses will not be willing to bond with uncooperating patients who do not show the medication process’s need.
Major Assumptions of Virginia Henderson’s Theory
Virginia Henderson makes a major assumption that nurses will take care of the patients up to a point where they can be independent. Therefore, Henderson’s theory’s significant assumptions include failure to explicitly explain how nurses will achieve the target of caring for the clients until they gain full recovery. Besides, the theory assumes that nurses are willing to dedicate their time day and night towards caring for them. Hence, the theory expects that nurses should study both arts and sciences at the university level. There is no connection to how human physiological needs are correlated to other human characteristics and holistic expression of human nature. Additionally, there is no explicit explanation of the link of the 14 characteristics prioritized, limiting their full comprehension. Equally, there is no vivid description of the nurse’s role in ensuring that the patient undergoes peaceful death. According to Henderson, there is an assumption that a nurse’s primary function is to fill the gap in the patient life hence help the patient do those activities that they did without assistance when in good health (Pinheiro et al., 2016). In reality, the role is not practical since the massive gap in nurse to patient ratio leading to nurses’ huge workload does not accord them the required time to find out the patient’s needs exhaustively. She further postulates that nurses must be ready to help people die peacefully. At times, some people may die without the nurse’s attention since they may be performing other duties at that time.
Major Assumptions of Synergy Model Theory
On the other hand, the synergy model failed to highlight the factors that facilitate older patients’ vulnerability. Studies indicate that an individuals’ vulnerability to potential stressors increases as one age (Hardin, 2015). For example, as one age, the rate of cardiac muscle ability to pump blood within the body lowers the blood flow rate to the rest of the body organs, leading to slow metabolic rate and homeostatic waste elimination from the body. Consequently, nurses need to have preferential treatment to older people to avert any stressor that may lead to undesired patient outcomes. Equally, the synergy model assumes that all nurses will create a bond between them and the patients without stressing on the individual differences; hence some nurses may not be willing to probe further non-cooperating patients.
Concepts of Virginia Henderson’s Theory
Henderson’s theory focuses on emphasis on patient needs. As a result, to ensure that they meet the patient’s needs, nurses develop their competencies to promote them from one rank to the other from competent to experts. The main concepts highlighted by Henderson included individual, environment, health, and nursing.
The patient. An individual is a person who has gone to the health facility to get assistance to be independent or to a peaceful death.
The environment. On the other hand, the environment refers to the external factors that have an appreciable impact on determining the patient outcome.
Health. Refers to the ability of an individual to regain the 14 primary attributes associated with good health
Nursing goals, roles, and functions. Nursing refers to nurses who interact with the patients to discharge professional medical care. Equally, the theory anchors postulate that the mind and body are inseparable hence the need for nurses to create harmony for a patient to have high chances of getting maximum independence. Nursing has drawn its domain from a wide-based spectrum in other disciplines like biology, psychology, and medicine; hence every nurse practices a set of theories in their daily interactions with the patients (Zaccagnini & Pechacek, 2019). Therefore, a nurse should be open to read widely and attend regular nursing career updates to remain informed on the field’s current developments. The subsets of the concept are the 14 necessary functions in which nurse assistance to the patient is essential. They include the ability to move, dress, breathe, accomplish set goals, participate in social activities, have an average body temperature, connect to one’s faith, cause harm to other people, and be able to eat drink. In other words, the nurse in charge must ensure that the patient can perform the above functions through the assistance.
Concepts of Synergy Model Theory
The basic concepts of Synergy models anchors on the nurse-patient interaction. It postulates that the nurses have specific competencies that they must practice and embrace in their daily practice. While patients display specific characteristics with a profound impact on enhancing positive patient outcomes. The breakdown of the key concepts are:
The patient. The eight patient characteristics emphasized include resiliency, vulnerability, and stability, among others. Vulnerability refers to the patient’s ability to withstand real and probable stressors that may influence patient care’s maximum output (Hardin, 2015).
The environment. However, the environment refers to the set up where an individual learns to be independent in acquiring the basic 14 life processes. The environment also includes external influences that affect life, such as the environmental conditions and the relationship between the patients and their immediate family members or caregivers.
Health. The model attempts to explain the unique characteristics that patients and their families contribute...