hello everyone...pls help me with our debate this Monday.. our clinical instructor gave us the topic,,"IS NURSING THEORY IMPORTANT TO NURSING PRACTICE?,, and we are in the negative side,.the decision was given through toss coin,.
PLS HELP US WITH OUR STAND,,NURSING THEORY IS REALLY IMPORTANT BUT MAYBE THERE ARE SOME THINGS TO BE ARGUED ABOUT IT..AND NURSING IS NOT REALLY ALL ABOUT THE THEORIES ITSELF..
I didn't acquire the value of caring from Jean Watson or some other theorist in nursing school I acquired it from my parents - neither of them nurses.[/quote']
OK. I figured that might be the case -- but that doesn't invalidate my point. Somebody TAUGHT you about caring. When Watson first starting working on caring, people in nursing were not talking about caring -- or incorporating it within nursing education. There was such a strong focus on physiology that caring was disappearing from nursing. We should all appreciate the fact that somebody (Watson and others) stool up and said, "Hey, wait! We can't forget about caring. In fact, we should put it front and center."
Also, we should appreciate that in order to teach caring to those for whom it does not come naturally ... and in order to develop systems of caring ... and in order to document the benefits of caring so that hospitals and insurance companies will provide the resources needed to provide caring to our patients ... we need frameworks with which we can discuss it, do research on caring, teach caring, show the beneficial outcomes of caring, etc. Those frameworks that are needed to discuss it etc. are the theories of caring. Without them, we can not discuss, teach, research, document, validate, etc. the caring that you seem to think is so important. And if we don't do those things, then we don't get the resources we need to provide caring to our patients.
"Let's hope the caring ideal continues to seem like common sense to you -- and to many others. But don't forget the fact that it seems like common sense to you because somewhere along the line, you acquired that value and internalized it -- probably from Jean Watson or someone like her that taught you about the importance of caring." orig poster, llg
Thanks for your post llg. Guess I sounded negative, but I didn't mean to be. But these things do just seem so basic to me. I did not learn to care about people from a theorist. My mother was an LPN, and sisters old enough to be my mother were a physician and a nurse practitioner. Caring was understood. It didn't matter if it was a patient, a neighbor or a stray kitty I rescued...you cared and were expected to always show that. Same as the theory of helping patients do as much for themselves as possible, same as behavioral theories, etc. It was just all part of my life. And I guess I have no understanding of the person who does not care. Yes, in reading some posts, and in being a director of nursing, I see nurses who do not seem to care. I wonder why they are nurses. And if they are working for me, they are quickly terminated. I think the only theorists I have enjoyed reading about were the very first ones...it was all new for them.
I think it is very easy to forget that when most nurse theorists first publish their work ... it is new to the world ... or at least a new way of looking at an old idea. However, over time, as those ideas become imbedded in our profession, those ideas become old and commonplace. Everybody knows them. Everybody assumes them. The ideas get passed down through our culture and we don't need to read the original scholarship that produced.
We forget that not too long ago (in human history terms) nobody washed their hands or any health care equipment between patients because the "germ theory" did not exist. Now, little kids grow up knowing that you should was your hands to get rid of the germs. They grow up thinking of it as "common sense" -- but it didn't start out that way.
The nursing theorists each contributed ideas into our discipline's discussion of topics important to the provision of nursing care. Each added something to the conversation of value -- or their ideas would not have been accepted. That's why theory is never a "done deal." It's always evolving as the conversation continues, with old ideas refined, new perspectives added, etc. New generations learn the new ideas of the previous generations. They internalize those ideas and those new ideas become old ideas. The newer generations add their own ideas and perspectives to the conversations -- often based on ideas that were once "new" and "innovative" even if they don't always know it.
Can't you have a body of knowledge specific to a profession without having any grand theories? Do pharmacists have a grand theory of pharmacy? Do civil engineers a grand theory of civil engineering? Nurses can publish research on topics relevant to nursing without any grand theories in the background... such as ways to reduce the incidence of pressure ulcers or effective post-op teaching strategies.
Yes! While we do know much about how pharmaceuticals work within the body, much of pharmacology is based on theories that must be tested through the scientific process. Scientists have learned tremendous things about the body, especially with the discovery of the human genome, but even that started with ideas, theories. And the grand theory behind civil engineering is the theory of gravity.
Nursing theory guides nursing research. Without it, nurses are basing their research on "hunches" or conventional wisdom, which simply don't stand the test for scientific rigor. Let's say, jjjoy, you and I decided to do a research project on effective post-op teaching strategies. How would we start? We would determine exactly what it is that we wanted to study. How do we define "effective"? How do we define "post-op teaching"? What is our patient population? How do we come up with our strategy? Do we want to look at post-C-section written instruction for first-time mothers who don't speak English as their first language? Do we want to look at ways to reinforce verbal instructions in middle-age men who live by themselves and have had TURPs? We'd look at scientific literature, nursing research published in peer-reviewed journals. (And, not to be elitist, but AJN doesn't count as a "research" journal.) Anyway, we would look at other studies, to see if what we're doing is something completely different or if others had made similar journeys in their work. We'd decide if we wanted to try to replicate the results of a previous study.
We'd use theory as a way to determine our approach. Would we use Pender's theories of health promotion as a guide for our teaching materials? How might we approach this issue if we followed, say, Rogerian theories or the Neumann Systems Model? The Roy Adaptation Model? You see, without theory, someone else might pick up the research and decide that, while they are also interested in post-op teaching strategies, they can't use what you learned because you were talking about middle-age men with TURPs and they're interested in helping post-lady partsl hysterectomy women in their forties. But----a nurse researcher doesn't look only at the details. A nurse researcher looks at the underlying theory to see if the study is relevant to his/her clinical or research needs.
The thing is, to do actual research, it's necessary to follow certain scientific and academic standards. You need to use statistics to analyze your data. (I hated statistics at the undergrad level and in grad school---but it's a necessary evil in order to understand and conduct nursing research.) Otherwise, how can you tell if what you did actually made a difference? Certainly nurses can publish the things they learn, their approaches in certain situations and how they handled things. But, unless those nurses follow the guidelines of conducting actual research, all their work can be dismissed as anecdotal, working for one patient or one situation, but not necessarily applicable in other persons in other clinical settings.
In regards to Watson's theories of transpersonal caring, I remember sitting in a class one time and nurses were debating whether or not caring was necessary to be a nurse. A debate ensued over the differences between sympathy, empathy and caring. Was it all just semantics, an academic exercise? I don't believe so. I was stunned to discover that many nurses (this was in grad school) did not understand the differences between these concepts and some stated that they felt they could be adequate nurses without caring at all. That goes against my core beliefs and I disagreed with those classmates who said nurses didn't need to care. How does that help me in practice? If I'm working with someone who mistakes empathy for sympathy, it matters in the care our team delivers. If I'm working with someone who believes caring is optional, I might have problems when they don't understand why I felt it necessary to sit at the bedside of a confused, elderly person who was crying at night.
I respect the opinions of those who disagree (but remember, we aren't supposed to be doing anyone's homework here!) but I value theory as a foundation for nursing practice. I honestly don't believe thinking and doing have to be mutually exclusive in the nursing profession.
You can teach a student how to provide care for patients , but if a student enters nursing does not know how to be caring towards others , it's a bit late in the day , to try to teach them this personality trait . I don't think being caring is a trait that can be taught in the classroom , it is something that should be a basis of a persons personality , that is transparently genuine , not a theory the student has learned and can check off their skill set .
You can teach a student how to provide care for patients , but if a student enters nursing does not know how to be caring towards others , it's a bit late in the day , to try to teach them this personality trait . I don't think being caring is a trait that can be taught in the classroom , it is something that should be a basis of a persons personality , that is transparently genuine , not a theory the student has learned and can check off their skill set .
You might be interested to know that the ideas you just expressed in the quote above ARE a theory of caring. You are proposing a theory of caring that has been discussed/debated in the literature by caring theorists. The following questions have been discussed for years. How does a person (nurse) acquire the value of caring. Do values have to be taught in early childhood? or can they be acquired as adults? How can teach values to children and/or adults? How can we help people internalize a set of desired values?
Like it or not ... you have just shown that you have a theory of caring.
No! It is nothing more than an archaic system of classification. Now, you can find relevant information without knowing the theoretical model.
Okay, I'll bite. Am always interested in expanding my knowledge base. Can you please give me examples or show me how to find relevant information that doesn't rely on antiquated theoretical models? Thanks!
Understanding that theory is the backbone of all clinical care perfomed by a nurse. We develope curriculum based on the theory of nurses' before us. Maybe you did not get enough theory while you were in school? Two that you discussed, Benner and Roy are two very classic nursing theorists! Research the two and you will be amazed at the connection between what you do as a nurse and what they wrote.
For the student looking for the negative side of theory in regards to nursing. Not all of our actions as nurses have a theory based approach. For instance, compassion. Compassion is an intregal aspect to nursing. Without the ability to give sympathy and/or compassion in respect to the care we give, we would be unable to approriately care for our clients/patients. Compassion is nothing we can learn, we are born with the ability to be compassionate to each other. No theory behind that one. Another, intiution. Again, another innate ability that does not require a theoritical background. Practicing nurses use intiuation constantly in patient care. We (nurses) need to be able to thing ahead, following our instincts. We we start to see changes in our patients, is it just scientific? Many times intiutions tells us that something is wrong, or will be wrong soon. Do we act on it or wait? A good nurse acts on her intuition. Survey a floor and ask nurses how often they treat based on intuition? Good luck with your debate. I hope I have helped you somewhat.
thank u so much..im starting to be relieved with what u said,,,thank u.. i think i know how to stand in our debate..
llg, PhD, RN
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