Nursing Metaparadigm and Nursing Theory

Nursing Metaparadigm and Nursing Theory
When planning and providing care for a patient, nurses can benefit from understanding and utilizing various nursing theories. They help us focus care, individualize treatment, identify risk factors, health care needs and educational needs. Nursing theories, such as Betty Neuman’s nursing systems model, can be used within the four concepts of the nursing metaparadigm to address all aspects of care. “In the United States, the nursing metaparadigm has been widely used to describe four spheres of nursing knowledge that reflect beliefs held by the profession about nursing’s context and content” (Myers Schim, Benkert, Bell, Walker, & Danford, 2007, p. 73).
Nursing Metaparadigm
Nursing’s metaparadigm consists of four concepts. These concepts include the person, health, environment and nursing. The concept of person refers to the recipient of care, which may include a person, their family or even the community. Nurses must respect the unique qualities of each patient, family and community and should provide individualized care to meet those needs. Health refers to an individual’s state of health being a balance between their developmental and behavioral wellness to the fullest extent possible. Since health is dynamic and constantly changing one must constantly adapt to change, which may lead to stressors that can have a negative affect on health if not addressed. Environment refers to all the outside conditions that affect the patient within the setting where health care needs occur. These may include health care needs that are being influenced by factors at home, in school or at the workplace. Finally nursing is the diagnosis and treatment of the current or potential health problems....

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... partners unfaithfulness may lead to trust issues and they may have difficulty establishing intimate relationships in the future. The nurse should include in the individualized treatment plan to encourage the patient to attend group sessions and to seek counseling from a health care professional to help them come to terms with their interpersonal conflict. Educating them on techniques such meditation and self-reflection can help them develop coping skills and reduce stress over their relationship loss.

Conclusion
Utilizing nursing theory can help nurses develop a more focused and individualized plan of care for their patients. By understanding the nurse’s metaparadigm and how to apply theory to each concept, nurses can develop increased insight on their patients and promote interventions that are more likely to produce a greater quality of care for the patient.