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
…show more content…
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 2005 Fawcett stated “the metaparadigm of professional nursing incorporates four concepts: human beings, environment, health, and nursing” (as sited in Kearney, 2012, p. 4). This paper discusses my philosophy of nursing by stating my own personal definitions, values, and assumptions regarding each of the above mentioned concepts. My paper concludes with an exemplar from my own nursing practice and how I integrated my nursing philosophy into that particular clinical situation.
The nurse must develop a trusting therapeutic relationship with the patient in order to act in the many roles of nursing.
Incorporating these theories into the everyday practice of nurses has developed a stronger and more advanced nursing discipline. The knowledge that the theorists shared strengthens the fundamentals of nursing concepts, values and beliefs that is being taught to each and every nursing generation to come. As a nurse, and someone who has sustained sleepless nights providing bedside care to the weak, frail and dying, practicing nursing through the components of nursing models in order reach an over all goal has been my struggle. Without theories, nursing would not be as advanced as it is scientifically, which would not benefit the
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.
Virginia Henderson developed the nursing need theory, which focuses on increasing the patient’s independence to speed up the recovery process (Alligood and Tomey, 2009). This is where my theory begins to connect with hers. Our main duty as nurses is to provide care for the patient while they are unable to care for themselves and facilitate them to be the best individual they can be. For this reason nursing is both a science and an art. It is a science in that nurses must understand the disease processes that are affecting the patient’s health, they must also practice based on evidence that is defended by science, and know how to operate equipment and machines. However, it is an art because it requires unique care for each patient, and each nurse is going to provide care in a slightly different way. The nurse is responsible for following the health care providers plan of care, but the nurse provides the creativity that provides the individualized care. The ultimate goal of nursing is to provide care to facilitate the patient in retaining or maintaining their maximal level of
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
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:
According to Kristen Swanson’s theory of caring, caring consists of Knowing, Being with, Doing for, Enabling, and maintaining belief. She believes that the environment and what is in the environment can affect people, either positively or negatively. As a nursing student, I possess the qualities of enabling, doing for, and being with. These qualities are implanted in me via my upbringing, culture, religious belief, and life experience/encounters(my environment). “Enabling” is the nurses’ responsibility to help the make a transition into the unknown.
What is caring? In any healthcare profession caring is an important concept, but what does it really mean to care? Opinions on the meaning of caring vary depending on the person and the situation. It seems that most people think of caring differently than nurses do, and nurses think of caring differently than other healthcare workers. Which arises another question, is caring in nursing different than other healthcare disciplines?
3rd ed. of the book. St. Louis: Mosby & Co. 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.
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
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).
Two concepts at the heart of nursing are comfort and caring. The Meriam Webster dictionary defines comfort as easing grief or trouble, as well as giving hope or strength. The definition of caring is showing or feeling concern for others. Theorists Jean Watson and Katharine Kolcaba seek to enhance nurses understanding of caring and comforting patients through their respective theories. This paper will discuss their theories using a stepwise approach.
The medical field is expanding and nurses are in high demand. There are different jobs in the medical that aim to help individuals in different ways. In particular, nursing is a difficult field to work in as nurses work closely with the patients. Nurses aim to prevent illness, promote health, and restore health and well being. Therefore, there are some qualities that make a good nurse, such as communication skills, respect, patience, honesty. All of theses qualities encompass caring in nursing. In particular, caring is the most important because it is the how nurses give individualized care.