Can Someone Be a Nurse Without Jean Watson??

Nurses General Nursing

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Ok now, as I delve back INTO nursing philosophy and theories, I come across, again, the theories of Jean Watson that have been hailed as the greatest thing since polyurethane IV bags - The Caring Theory of Nursing.

Personally, I have never been a fan of Watson, only because I feel that she OVERemphasized the caring aspect, and, in my opinion, dumbified nursing - hence, the ad campaign in the late 80's "If Caring Were Enough, Anyone Could Be a Nurse." Watson threw a fit when she saw this.

As nursing evolves to a more technically challenging field, requiring more acute assessment skills, and as the

"How Women Know" movement which has shaped nursing education for the last decade or so has become archaic, wondering what your thoughts are on if someone can be a nurse and NOT subscribe to the caring theory. Can one be a competent nurse and NOT care about her patients any more deeply than simply getting the job done?

Watson's theory goes a bit deeper than simply "caring" - more so than "caring" about any other job. But "caring" as far as honestly caring about the patient as you would your mom or dad.

Do you think someone CAN be an effective nurse WITHOUT having so much an emphasis on loving her patients?

Specializes in Critical Care.

This just in: You can STILL be a good nurse without Jean Watson.

~faith,

Timothy.

"Can someone be an effective nurse without having so much an emphasis on loving her patient?" I don't think you have to love all of your patients. There are certain patients that will touch your heart and impact your life and there are those that won't. I do think you have to have a certain amount of respect for everyone you care for it order to be an effective nurse. You don't have to like them or the things they have done but you need to be non-judgemental in caring for them. A patient is more likely to listen to and respect a nurse who is not cold and heartless.:redbeathe

RN4840

Hey, you guys--I don't remember nursing theory--was that before or after metal bedpans. LOL

By all means a nurse can be effective without caring for the patient as a loved one.

I care for human beings; I do not want to see or wish harm on anyone. Other than that, I leave my work and patients at the hospital.

I think caring too much/feeling sorry can get in the way of being a good nurse. I have seen nurses that could not function for the rest of the day after one of their patients took a turn for the worst. OR delayed treatment by trying to address comfort issues and not catching a serious change in the patients condition.

Specializes in Oncology/Haemetology/HIV.

Jean Watson can be an asset to nursing but is not remotely necessary to it.

Specializes in Critical Care.
Jean Watson can be an asset to nursing but is not remotely necessary to it.

Exactly.

Which is why I cringe when it is taught as a fundamental base of knowledge.

~faith,

Timothy.

Glad to see I am not alone not knowing who Jean Watson is/was? Where I work I can see how a person can treat a patient to their fullest abilities and not have an emotional attachemt to the person. Working with people who some can do nothing for themselves but grind their teeth it happens. I dont feel it makes one a bad person. I feel its just the way things go. On the other hand I can see people caring beyond what would seem a professional relationship and may impair their judgement of reasonable thinking.

watson's caring theory, like most grand theories are broad and abstract and do not easily lend themselves to application or testing. in contrast, narrow range theories are very precise and restricted in their focus. mid-range theories go some way to solving this problem. they are moderately abstract and inclusive but are composed of concepts and propositions that are measurable.

as nurses we need to care for our patients from a nursing perspective and the medical model, after all we do have to follow physician orders, or as i prefer to call it the physician plan of care. in doing so we need to look holistically at the patient when intervening. according to watson, nursing is to perpetuate caring, healing, and health wherever and whenever patients are threatened biologically, institutionally, environmentally or politically, by local, national or global influences (sounds like most patients). in doing so the we need to consider the person’s mental, physical, societal, and spiritual environment when caring for them. if you can measure those outcomes with watson or any other theorist great. but i don't think that's possible.

you don't need watson, rogers, or peplau to be a nurse, but you do need to understand nursing concepts and why they work. otherwise you limit your practice to being a mindless task master blindly following physician's orders.

Specializes in Critical Care.

you don't need watson, rogers, or peplau to be a nurse, but you do need to understand nursing concepts and why they work. otherwise you limit your practice to being a mindless task master blindly following physician's orders.

i take exception to this comment. we are all spiritual beings and bring our own spiritual values into our practice. i don't need some hoaky 60's- drug-culture hippy pseudo-religion being handed down by ivory towered elitists to bring something more to my care than being a "mindless task master".

the problem with theory is you cannot qualify it. and since we are all spiritually unique, it doesn't matter if you could: it still wouldn't apply to any but a fraction of the nurses in practice.

i said this in another tread: "there is an argument that theory is so encompassing that you can pick and choose the elements that appeal to you to become a better nurse.

but why should that be limited to nursing theory? i do pick the spiritual elements that apply to my life and in turn to my practice. i just don't use nursing theory as my primary or even as a substantial source. my spiritual contributions to nursing are based on my whole range of experiences. to the extent that nursing theory coincides with my beliefs, it is because they are repetitions of concepts i've found and learned elsewhere.

that being the case, what is so special about nursing theory? many if not the majority of nurses that are very good nurses discovered the same things that nursing theory can provide outside of nursing theory. therefore, nursing theory is neither foundational nor especially unique to the development of the spiritual tools that can allow someone to become a good nurse.

if the vast majority of nurses can arm themselves with the spiritual tools to become good nurses independent of nursing theory, then what is the purpose of spending so much time and energy trying to develop a rationale of care that only principally duplicates such efforts?"

by spending our time trying to teach religion instead of science, we have been left behind by our peers because we practice in a science-driven field. that's why we aren't treated as professionals.

~faith,

timothy.

Ok I trained in the UK

so

Who is Jean Watson ?

I'm a new comer to the forum. I am not sure this forum still works and people visit it.

Dear "karenelizabeth" could you please answer: where in UK you studied?

I'm from Moldova (Easten Europe)? I'd like to study nursing in UK. Maybe you could give me an advice. Thank you in advance.

Jean Watson? I thought maybe you meant a fragrance, like Jean Nate.

Never heard of her.

Oh, and here's my theory. Good nursing practice means knowing when to attach and when to detach and both can come from a caring place. Too close, you can't see the forest for the trees. Too far away, can't do any good.

For me, it's simple: I ask myself "how would I want to be treated or how would I want someone I loved to be treated in this situation." Simple theory for a busy nurse.

Specializes in Critical Care.
For me, it's simple: I ask myself "how would I want to be treated or how would I want someone I loved to be treated in this situation." Simple theory for a busy nurse.

Not only is your 'theory' a wonderful working model, it benefits from not having it handed down from on high by ivory tower elitists more interested in controlling nursing then defining it.

Great theory. I use it myself. And, I didn't need Jean Watson to dictate to me the spritual parameters of this wonderfully concise theory.

Nursing theory should stick to science and let its practitioners deal with the spirituality that EACH of us bring to the profession, as individuals. In fact, I argue that it is both a fundamental impossibility to define that individual spirituality for the masses of nurses AND the very process of doing so does more to diminish the 'professional' nature of nurses then any other factor.

Thanks to 'nursing theory', we are relegated to power diminishing language and devices. We can't say what we mean, because we would violate the limits placed on us by the Ivory Tower, limits in turn that were placed on us in the very old days, when doctors taught nurses how to be nurses and instituted these very same disempowering devices.

So, we hint at what we mean so that it is other health care professionals that can 'Ah Ha' the solutions and take the credit for what nurses do as professionals everyday.

Can you be a good nurse without Jean Watson: if you really really try, you can be a good nurse DESPITE Jean Watson.

~faith,

Timothy.

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