Virginia Henderson’s needs theory provides a definition of nursing, describes nurse’s role, and formulates a nursing care which is focused on assisting individuals to reach a level of independence in meeting with basic human needs. I found Virginia Henderson’s needs theory easy to incorporate in to clinical practice and serve as a guide for the patient and nurse to reach the chosen goal.
In the past nursing profession was seen as linked to the medicine, has not had a separate identity. Nursing practice was considered as submissive and nurses were seen as “assistants” who helped ill patients to regain their health by merely following doctor’s orders. Nursing practice was considered as performing technical skills and procedures which are based
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She believed that once the individual can perform basic human needs independently, their physiological, psychological, emotional, and spiritual balance can be restored, and their recovery from illness or disease can be easily achievable. I can correlate her concepts of nurses’ roles in my current nursing practice. I play different roles such as “teacher, manager of care, communicator, patient advocator” to achieve better patient outcomes. As a communicator, I assess patients’ language preference and use hospital approved interpreters or language line to convey accurate information to patients so that they can make informed decisions. I also assess patient’s knowledge about disease process and use teaching methods and information which clients can learn and implement easily. In addition, I communicate effectively with other healthcare professionals and raise concerns on issues which can hinder in continuity in care delivery. Being a patient advocate is my most important of all nursing roles. As a patient advocate, my responsibility is to protect a patient 's rights. When a person is sick, they are unable to act as they might when they are well. I act on the patient 's behalf and supports their decisions, standing up for his or her best interests at all …show more content…
Her needs theory is uncomplicated, self-explanatory and it can be used without difficulty as a “guide for nursing practice by most nurses”. A study conducted by Ahtisham and Jacoline in Pakistan highlighted the importance of practicing theory based nursing care can enhance the human health and considered Virginia Henderson’s need theory “enable nurses to improve the standard of caring by assessing patient needs and developing a pragmatic plan of care”.
Nursing is constantly evolving and changing, in order to be more efficient in providing care than in the past. The nursing profession includes professionals who are not only caregivers but support systems as well as educators. All these factors help to provide optimal care for patients and to also better serve their families and the community. All nurses are encouraged to break down the simplistic notion society has about the nursing profession because nursing is a multi-faceted profession encompassing many different factors that are beneficial to overall human development and health.
Genuine care and compassion are welcomed characteristics of nurses and the profession of nursing and the most basic demonstration of care displayed by a nurse is to meet the physiological needs of a client. Physiological needs are categorised as the first priority of care and are required to maintain positive health and well-being (Pearson, 2013). Examples of physiological needs include oxygen, adequate intake of fluids and nutrition, maintaining correct body temperature, shelter, sex, and regular elimination of waste (McLeod, 2007; Pearson, 2013). For a nurse to meet these needs and demonstrate they care f...
Nurses have a considerable amount of responsibility in any facility. They are responsible for administering medicines and treatments to there patient’s. While caring for there patients, nurses will make observations on patient’s health and then record there findings. As well as consulting with doctors and other healthcare professionals to plan proper individual patient care. They teach their patients how to manage their illnesses and explain to both the patient and the patients family how to continue treatment when returning home (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014-15). They also record p...
Aside from Florence Nightingale, there are other icons in the history of nursing. For example, some important individuals are Virginia Henderson, Dorothy Johnson, Martha Rogers, Abraham Maslow, and Sister Callista Roy. These icons believed that the goal of nursing is to help clients, reduce stress, to help identify their needs, prevent illness, and promote health (O’Neill, pg. 4, 2014). All of these principles play a major role in the nursing profession. Some other their frameworks or principles are involved with the fourteen fundamentals needs, 7 behavioral subsystem in an adaptation model, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, evidence-based practice, primary caring, advance practice nursing, cultural competence, holistic approach, primary prevention, secondary prevention and tertiary prevention (O’Neill, pg. 4, 2014). These changes has improved and reformed many aspect of
Thorne, S. (2010). Theoretical Foundation of Nursing Practice. In P.A, Potter, A.G. Perry, J.C, Ross-Kerr, & M.J. Wood (Eds.). Canadian fundamentals of nursing (Revised 4th ed.). (pp.63-73). Toronto, ON: Elsevier.
Nursing is a highly respectable and honorable profession in the field of medicine. Since the emergence of the field of medicine in the world the role of nurses is highly appreciated all around the world. With the help of their kind attitude and effective communication, nurses can help the patients get complete information about their morbidity and act accordingly. Nurses can also help the patients come out of the emotional trauma experienced by them as a result of the frequent episodes of illness. In addition to that, the good communication skills can help the nurses get accurate information about the detailed signs and symptoms related to the particular illness.
Every person’s needs must be recognized, respected, and filled if he or she must attain wholeness. The environment must attuned to that wholeness for healing to occur. Healing must be total or holistic if health must be restored or maintained. And a nurse-patient relationship is the very foundation of nursing (Conway et al 2011; Johnson, 2011). The Theory recognizes a person’s needs above all. It sets up the conducive environment to healing. It addresses and works on the restoration and maintenance of total health rather than only specific parts or aspect of the patient’s body or personality. And these are possible only through a positive healing relationship between the patient and the nurse (Conway et al, Johnson).
In Nursing, there will always be instances where the patient's nurse needs to advocate for their patient. There are numerous reasons why a nurse would advocate for their patient ranging from getting the doctor to change the patient’s orders, helping the patient’s treatment team understand what it is the patient is requiring for the day, to expressing the patient’s last wishes before death. In every situation, the nurse should do what is in the patient’s best interest. Tomajan (2012), “Advocacy skills are the ability to successfully support a cause or interest on one’s own behalf or that of another. Advocacy requires a set of skills that include problem solving, communication, influence, and collaboration”(p. 2). With those skills, the nursing staff will be able to work together to advocate for their patients. Along with those skills, nurses need to keep in mind the three core attributes that are: safeguarding patients’ autonomy; acting on behalf of patients; and championing social justice in the provision of health care. (Bu & Jezewski, 2006)
The grand theory to be analyzed in this paper is Orem’s Self-Care Deficit Nursing Theory (SCDNT). The method used to analyze Dorothea Orem’s theory is Walker and Avant Theory Analysis (WAT). Theory analysis is a process of evaluating a nursing theory. The WAT is comprised of seven steps. The steps are defining the origins, meaning, logic, usefulness, details, structure and testability of the theory (McEwen & Wills, 2011). “Critical reflection of a theory determines how well the theory serves its purpose” (McEwen & Wills, 2011, p.95). Therefore, a critical reflection will be applied to the SCDNT. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and critique the SCDNT using the WAT method of theory analysis.
Since its establishment as a profession more than a century ago, Nursing has been a source for numerous debates related to its course, methods and development of nursing knowledge. Many nursing definitions and theories have evolved over time. Furthermore it is in a constant process of being redefined.
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).
One of the goals of nursing is to respect the human rights, values and costumes of a patient and his or her family and with the community as a whole. The International Council of Nurses states that nursing practice can be defined generally as a dynamic, caring, helping relationship in which the nurse assists the client to achieve and maintain optimal health. As health care providers, we have some fundamental responsibilities such as to promote health, to prevent illnes...
Nursing is a medical profession that involves the care and management of patients majorly in the hospital setting. This paper seeks to illustrate the fact that nursing is both a science and an art. Nursing is a science because it involves evidence based practice, education of the public, lifelong learning for the nurse and administrative roles that are allocated to the nurses. Nursing is also an art because nurses depend on intuition, have the capacity to promote positive change, are understanding and culturally sensitive.
In the practice of nursing, needs are an everyday phenomenon and are a common theme among many nursing theories accessible today. These nursing theories help implement care planning of the patient needs for the best possible outcome. Some examples of need theories include Virginia Henderson’s Nursing Needs Theory and Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (McEwen & Wills, 2011).