Nursing Metaparadigm and the Caring Theory
Jacqueline Koch, BSN, RN-BC
University of Southern Indiana
Caring is the foundation of nursing practice and the profession. Caring is “a nurturing way of relating to a valued other toward whom one feels a personal sense of commitment and responsibility” (Swanson, 1991, pg 165). This paper will discuss Swanson’s Theory of Caring and the author’s personal metaparadigm and how caring guides nursing practice.
Personal Metaparadigm
It is the belief of this author that when nurses know the why behind the care there will be improvement in patient care and outcomes. Nursing theory is the why behind the care the nurse provides, and it is important for nurses to have a basic understanding
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When nurses connect with patients, the sense of how caring the nurse is, improved (Brewer, Waston 2015). Knowing in the caring model is seeking to understand the events in the life of the person who is being cared for, assessing the situation and understanding (Swanson, 1991). The nurse must understand the patient and his/her clinical condition, remain unbiased, and assess the needs of the patient to effectively provide care, and gain the trust of the patient. Being with is defined as being present in the moment and understanding the feelings of the person being cared for (Swanson, 1991). The patient can interpret being with as caring, just by sitting down to talk with the patient about their illness, or touching a patient on the shoulder to comfort them in a time of crisis. The presence of the nurse is important to the patient and how some nurses describe caring. Doing for is a therapeutic action that the nurse takes, that the patient would do themselves if possible (Swanson, 1991). This can be clinical actions such as giving medications and performing dressing changes, or emotional actions, such as providing comfort, protection and advocating the patients’ needs. Enabling is defined by Swanson as helping or facilitating a person through an unfamiliar transition. The act of enabling can be explaining the unfamiliar, providing support, validating feelings, analyzing the situation and providing feedback. (Swanson, 1991). The final process in the caring model is maintaining belief, described by Swanson as maintaining hope, maintaining a positive attitude and standing by the patient or the one being care
In conclusion, Jean Watson’s theory of caring, a middle-range theory, provides essential framework and guidelines in nursing shortage problem. Nurses who exposed to caring theory have moral and ethical obligations to care for others during challenging situations. Patients, families and other professionals depend on nursing profession, their expertise and knowledge for best patient
The purpose of this paper is to present a personal belief about the metaparadigm of nursing and to incorporate it into that of Jean Watson’s Theory of Human Caring.
Watson first published her theory of caring in 1979 in a book titled, Nursing: Human Science and Caring. Watson and other researchers have built upon this theory and caring theory should continually be evolving as the delivery of patient care evolves. This theory focuses on care between the nurse and the patient. This interaction is defined as setting mutual tasks, how a spiritual force may help the interaction and when caring in the moment of true healing may occur. When the nurse and patient are on the same level spiritually self-awareness and self-discovery occur. There are ten themes identified in this article essential to caring in
The Theory of Nursing as Caring: A Model for Transforming Practice by Boykin & Schoenhofer recognizes the importance of identifying caring between the nurse and the one nursed as an applicable knowledge that the nurse must pursue. It is best stated that caring is not exclusive to nursing, yet it is uniquely lived in nursing (Alligood 2014).
The caring theory that I chose to discuss this week is Joanne Duffy’s quality-caring model. Dr. Duff’s developed the model in 2003 because she noticed that nurses did not seem to care. Formulizing the model tends to improve the care in nursing and to guide nurses to practice.
McCance,T.V.,McKenna, H. P., & Boore, J. R. P. (1999). Caring: Theoretical perspectives of relevance to nursing. Journal of Advanced Nursing,30, 1388 – 1395.
Caring is the “central theme and core of nursing caring tapestry” (Otterbein University, 2009, p. 2). When developing caring characteristics as a nurse and caring interventions, this in return helps
To make good nursing decisions, nurses require an internal roadmap with knowledge of nursing theories. Nursing theories, models, and frameworks play a significant role in nursing, and they are created to focus on meeting the client’s needs for nursing care. According to McEwen and Wills (2014), conceptual models and theories could create mechanisms, guide nurses to communicate better, and provide a “systematic means of collecting data to describe, explain, and predict” about nursing and its practice (p. 25). Most of the theories have some common concepts; others may differ from one theory to other. This paper will evaluate two nursing theorists’ main theories include Sister Callista Roy’s
Caring is the biggest aspect in the nursing field. Aspiring nurses choose to become nurses because they want to care for people in ways that most professions cannot do. Without caring nursing would not be the field it is today. The culture of caring involves intervening programs that help to build caring behaviors among nurses. As nurses become stressed and become down on their life it has shown that caring for oneself before others is key in caring for patients. Lastly, throughout the years many theorists have proven that caring has come from many concepts and ideas that relate directly to ICU nursing.
The best way to look at nursing theories is like the foundational block. Nursing theories are important set the tone of how a nurse will practice. A nurse will use intuition, practice, past expertise and events, and couple with learned theories to work every day in order to give the best patient care. it is all the more important to appreciate what first advanced nursing beyond mechanisms of practice to becoming a knowledge-based force in healthcare: That force is nursing theory and the theoretical thinking and research that generate theory. The complexity and depth of nursing are reflected in its structure of knowledge, which includes discipline-specific components such as philosophies, theories, and research and practice methodologies”( Reed, 2006). Patient care is a wide topic, but a key role in a patient’s care is the patient themselves, an educated patient is vital to their well being and higher level of care.
Kozier, B., Erb, G., Berman, A., Snyder, S. J., Buck, M., Yiu, L., & Stamler, L. L. (2014). fundamentals of nursing : caring and clinical judgment. (3rd ed.). Toronto:
I always treat each person as a unique individual with unique life experiences. I treat my patients with respect and address their cultural beliefs and values. I pride myself with having a caring attitude and want to help and heal people from their illness physically and psychologically. I think nursing can be both science and art. I think to be a successful nurse; the nurse needs to master the art of caring and continually learn and apply knowledge of nursing science throughout their career. Without caring or nurturing the nurse cannot connect with the patient and trust will not develop, without a trusting relationship, therapeutic nursing will not be able to occur. Therefore, I feel caring is at the forefront of all successful nursing interactions. This is not to negate the value that science brings to nursing. A competent nurse must be able to have a variety of knowledge and skill. The next part of the paper will discuss the metaparadigm of
Nursing theories are actions care that a nurse provides to a patient to prevent a sickness, maintain and promote health. Many of the theorists contribute to a frame work or a blueprint of how nurses should provide care to patients. Many these theories are part of nursing care and most of them they go hand in hand. Nursing theory aims to describe, predict and explain the phenomenon of nursing (Chinn and Jacobs1978).Nursing is apprehensive with laws and principles governing the life processes and functioning of sick or well human beings. Nursing theories are beneficial in understanding the knowledge of nursing and its application (Smith and Liehr, 2008).
Jean Watson is a well-respected American nursing theorist who created the Theory on Human Caring. Watson’s concept on caring for a human being is simple, yet has much depth and meaning, and holds strong for nurses to work with compassion, wisdom, love, and caring. The Theory on Human Caring is necessary for every nurse, as it is our job to care for others in a genuine and sensitive way. The theory is extensive; its core foundation is based on nine concepts all interrelated and primarily focused on a nurse giving a patient care with compassion, wisdom, love, and caring (Watson, J., 1999). The nine essential aspects consist of: values, faith-hope, sensitivity, trust, feelings, decision-making, teaching-learning, environment, and human needs. Watson also created the Caritas Process consists of ten different ways of giving care:
When a nurse is providing patient care, he/she creates a safe environment for the patient and enables the choice to establish a relationship on a human to human interaction or on a transpersonal level. The patient will be acknowledged as a person with the wholeness of their soul despite their illness or number on the bed. The ten carative factors in this theory are used as an education tool for nurses around the world and should be applied to the different care situations in practice. Nurses use the factors to promote growth in themselves and within the patient. A nurse should respect the patient’s decisions and take the time to fully be present in the moments with the patient. A lot of nurses complain about the time limitations they have and do not provide the necessary amount of time to listen and gather the patient’s perspective of the situation. Another way this theory can be applied to practice is by recognizing the caring moment between you and the patient. This will determine how the relationship will