Studying nursing theory, came across Jean Watson

[algebra_demystified]

I haven't read much of her work, but what I've seen so far looks like the ravings of a schizophrenic. It looks like she rejects the medical model completely and believes in telepathy and mind reading over distances, and unmeasurable electromagnetic fields that are created when nurses care about their patients.

What is a "mindbodyspirit" and what am I supposed to do with it? Does she even believe in germ theory?

I'm having a hard time believing that this is taken seriously in graduate level classes.

[FunkyDoo]

Hey kimba, I read your other post about Jean Watson, though I don't think you got many good replies. I also have to do research for this theory for my school paper. And I am also Christian. I don't know about your course, is it absolutely required for you to be a nurse? I don't know what is the best advice, perhaps you can seek God for answer or some godly counsel from someone, but probably not here since not everyone is Christian. But in my opinion, I don't believe it either and I am against it. But if you absolutely have to stay in this course, it would be a research topic that no other Christian has talked about (well, I haven't found any resources about this), and see how it is related to the New Age or Christian Science, not that you believe and go along in those things but to show others about what you've learned and how it is false. Now, I don't know if God wants you to stay there to do research, nor do I know if He wants you to leave that course and switch to some other program in another school instead. So, first things first, seek godly counsel. And find where peace leads you. And if you do research about this, pray for protection. I'm still researching, so once I'm done, maybe I'll show you my essay There's an absolutely dark thing lying behind this whole theory, I hope God wants me to research about this also...I just started yesterday. So...I'm still trying to figure out things for now. See ya.

[algebra_demystified]

Well, I wound up in another theory class and had to make a comment on how nursing theory has affected my practice. I decided the skeptic's point of view needs to be expressed. My work will center on questioning the existence of electromagnetic fields in the context of caring/healing.

As I looked through my Masters program curriculum, it looks like I have several more theory classes to go through. What a waste of time and money.

[bookwormom]

"Bottom line -- Mysticism is not something that should be part of nursing. If we want to be respected as professionals, we should choose something far away from shamanism and faith healing, and closer to science."

Just a brief response to the above statement. First of all, mystical experience may well be part of the patient's experience--triggered by stress, pain, etc., so we should be open to the possibility of such experiences happening in our patients. Second, there may well be an element of mysticism in the act of caring. Sometimes we transcend our cranky, tired or irritable selves and inexplicably rise to meet the needs of our patients in a genuine, true and caring way.

I'm not saying that mysticism should be structured as nursing theory, or that nurses even have consensus on what it is, but I wouldn't dismiss it as unworthy of nursing concern.

[neuroms]

I think we're focusing on the wrong thing here. We shouldn't be worried about energy fields, they'll worry about themselves. We should be investing in universal health care...literally...how to care for aliens...

Then again, she is out of Boulder. I believe those folks would buy turds and hang them around the house if you certified they had positive vibes.

[algebra_demystified]

OK, I'm ready to eat a little crow. Not because of Jean Watson, but because nursing care... the caring part of nursing care... turns out to have an effect greater than placebo. I'm in mental health nursing and I thought that the caring part wasn't as important as getting the information across, but it turns out that's not the whole story. Medications and even surgery can have a placebo effect on a patient rather than being curative.

Life has taught me a couple of things since I first posted this topic.

I became a patient at one point about a year ago. The nurse who treated me gave me hope. Looking back on it, that's all it was. I felt as though I was running into a brick wall, and she gave me the impression that she really cared about what happened to me when we were through.

That gave me the boost I needed to get up and do what needed to be done to resolve my medical and psychological issues. I'm not going to mislead anyone into thinking that I didn't do what needed to be done on my own. That nurse didn't hold my hand and send wave after wave of caring into me to cure me. She DID give me hope that there would be more to my practice, my family life, and my health than I saw at the moment. It was a very giving and caring thing that she did for me, and I am grateful for her care. Oh, and I paid my bill in full. She didn't just care on her own time, I paid for her to engage in a one-way relationship that was centered entirely around my own personal well-being.

At the same time I've seen some real )*($)%# MDs who didn't help anybody no matter how smart they were or which medications they prescribed. There's something to caring for your patients that is real. The emotional component of nursing is something I can no longer deny.

In any case, I believe that evidence based practice carries the day, and that the rare and unusual caring nurse can add to the healing process. Both are true. I don't see as much of a conflict today as I did when this thread began.

I have to throw in the caveat that you can care all you want, but if you don't know what you're doing with regards to the basics of nursing care, then get out of my hospital. I believe that nurses are there to carry out the orders of the MD. How they carry out the orders is an important component in the treatment of the whole patient.

On that note I'm gonna raise the roof for all the CNAs and MHTs and other caregivers who don't have a title, but who bring hope and comfort to the afflicted. I think the CNAs and MHTs deserve a lot more respect and attention than they get right now. I try to include them in staff meetings (against the will of other nursing staff) because I think they bring a lot of detail to the meeting and shed light on a lot of things I don't notice when I'm putting stickers on MD orders pages.

One serving of crow please... and I'd like it cold.

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

glad you had the personal experience of "nurses therapeutic use of self" to help in your healing... that's part of the art of nursing in my book; something not easily taught or believed until experienced.

[color=#1122cc]therapeutic communication in psychiatric nursing

therapeutic use of self

• definition - ability to use one’s personality consciously and in full awareness in an attempt to establish relatedness and to structure nursing interventions.
  
• nurses must possess self-awareness, self-understanding, and a philosophical belief about life, death, and the overall human condition for effective therapeutic use of self.
  

[nursel56]

Algebra_Demystified - People so rarely provide updates, especially those that are as eloquent and thoughtful as yours is. I posted in another thread I believe people primarily relate to other human beings rather than objective data. When people share their stories about why they decided to go into nursing, the vast majority were inspired by an encounter with someone as you described.

I wouldn't go all in for spikes and waveforms either, but I'm certain there are forms of energy we can't describe in words, and that they affect us whether we acknowledge their existence or not. What is that thing that allows us to know instinctively truths about our patients before they are tested empirically?

Also, if you hadn't updated this - I would've missed this:

Then again, she is out of Boulder. I believe those folks would buy turds and hang them around the house if you certified they had positive vibes.

Having lived in Boulder for 8 years, this gave me my laugh of the day!

[jbluehorseh]

that was a nice story; i think we all need a change in life experience or health for that matter, to see nursing in a different perspective. i think too many md see health care a mathematical problem. (rx x tx / time = recovery) if that was so, we would not have amount of patients we see. there something beyond medicine that nurses brings to the table. the ability to reach out and change a person's life is a skill. i do like the watson model but, it is not the only model i use because i find value in many of the theorist; every patient is different and i will not follow a dogma theory. i also think it is the hospital environment that makes it possible for the nurse to care; too many patients or high acuity for the nurse to fully carryout the caring process. this also dependent on the patient's ability to accept the process, meaning is the patient at a point where he or she is open to nurses care plan. the nurse is there at a time where he or she is the most vulnerable and patients tend to not let his or her guard down. it is the caring nurse that is able to break through that wall to make a change in that patient's life

this is what i wrote before

the are many different conceptual models, from benner to watson, from porifice to rogers. they all have there pro and cons mostly it is how you the nurse see these models. to me some of these theories are too "sappy" or corny from a male prospective. i feel many of these theories were written from female point of view. not that if is a bad thing, but males express them selves differently then females. nursing theories are just a frame work to which to guide you. i think too many nurses schools take these theories as absolutes or too concretely. i can remember discussing in nursing school therapeutic conversations using roy, i felt that the instructors wanted the student to talk to the patient in a "over caring , feministic matter" which in talking to a male patient may not respond well to that type of mannerism verse engaging the patient directly. where talking to a female patient it might work very well. nevertheless, men do not talk this manner and it is very awkward for men and we should not have talk like a woman to show that we do care. while i understand, most of the concepts it is very clear it was written form a female point of view. now that more and more men are entering nursing, these concept and views are not adjusting with the times.

the pro and con lie with us, each nursing theory appeals to the individual nurse because it agrees with their principles, morality or ideology. there is not one theory that can be applied to all patients or for that matter any one community. with this in mind a nurse might apply different concepts from many theorist to achieve his or her goals, one might use watson's holistic approach coupled with orem' self-care.

[MJAJKJ]

I need a place to vent. I've started graduate school and we are covering nursing theory and good ol' Jean is making an appearance. I can say in my undergrad courses Jean was taken seriously. In my first paper I essentially wrote that there is a time and place for theory in nursing and Jean's load of crap theory could hardly be expected to drive practice across multiple settings. I did not do well on that paper (even though it was brilliant). I then rolled over and wrote what my instructors wanted to hear. I very much agree with the original post with Jean rejecting the medical model. Here is a quote from her website:

"...the transpersonal nurse has the ability to center consciousness and intentionality on caring, healing, and wholeness, rather than on disease, illness and pathology."

I don't even know what the heck a "transpersonal nurse" is. I know that I can't cure MRSA with a caring attitude. Jean's precious "caritas" do nothing clear that up.

More quotes from our friend Jean's website, the caring moment (how sweet).

"A heart-centered loving energetic field; a turning point

A call to higher/deeper consciousness, intentionality

An authentic choice of caring/living

Requires presence-centering-search for meaning; new level of authenticity – potentiating healing and wholeness"

So maybe Ive been doing nursing wrong for the last 6.5 years, but I can say for a fact I've never had a caring moment. Not once. I work on a court-ordered treatment unit for the mentally ill and these patients make more sense than Jean.

If we did an intake assessment and the patient said they are here to influence the consciousness and intentionality as they enter into the life space or phenomenal field of another person and they are able to detect the other person's condition of being at the soul or spirit level and can transcend the moment, that patient would be hit with an Unspecified Psychotic Disorder and probably watched closely for boundary issues with other patients and the psychotropics would start flowin!!!!

I feel like you start as a nurse, work for a while, leave ACTUAL patient care, teach, get as far away from patients as possible, then write theory.

However, there is a place on Jean's website where you can make donations and listed are several individuals and large corporations that have donated. $220,000 according to the website, and that is just was is posted openly on the site.

Tell me this is about caring and not money, then I can sell you this island I own in the pacific. Real cheap!!!

[d'cm]

"I work on a state ordered treatment unit for the mentally ill and these patients make more sense than Jean". Too funny.!

After 24 yrs as a nurse the only theory I believe is applicable across the profession is that **** runs down hill.

[Orion81RN]

When you really get into taking care of patients, all that is crap. We don't tell our alzheimers patient 87 times a day her mother is dead... as she is 80 years old herself, only to have her grieve for hours on the death of her mom... we learn through experience that the theory is crap. QUOTE]

What's even worse is that few undergraduate instructors have studied theory in any sort of in-depth way. So, they teach it badly. That poor teaching only magnifies the problems.

This may sound like a pretty dumb question/statement. Where I got my ADN, every instructor had at LEAST an MSN. It was a job description requirement. Also, when I think of undergrad, I think, no BSN. So, are there really nursing instructors, (teachers at colleges) that DO NOT have their MSN let alone a BSN?

Side note, I really pissed off and offended my CNA instructor whose way of teaching was to go from sfudent to student having each of us read a portion of the text book. We butted heads big time bc she gave us flat out wrong information on very important things. I always called her out on it in class.

Looking back I realize what an arrogant jerk I was. Especially when I told her in a meeting with her and two instructors, her fellow colleagues, that she had no business teaching with her level of education. And misinformation.

Don't know why they didn't just kick me out of the program. They passed me. In my defense, she offended ME so MUCH that I just blurted out what I thought of her. Not my proudest moment.