I *do* recognize the need for nursing theory

Nursing Students Post Graduate

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but I am a bit appalled by the theory and research classes requird for my NP program while we covered the entire cardiovascular system in 1.2 hours of Patho. Why is that ??????????????????

We have Nursing Theory, Research and Research and Theory.

How are other programs compared to this one ?

try rogers and her energy fields. and try explaining that theory intelligently to a group of nurses in the trenches.

or try watson, who believes that nursing isn't much more than a hyper drive mothering instinct.

~faith,

timothy.

my point was that i have not been taught anything about rodgers or watson in my theory course.

i am now reading about pender's health promotion model. "the movement to greater responsibility and accountability for successful personal health practice requires the support of the nursing profession through development of evidenced based practice. the health promotion model evolved from a substantive research program and continues to provide direction for better health practices. the model guides further research in various populations. dr. pender's visionary leadership continues to influence health promotion-related education, research and policy." do you see anything wrong with her theory as i described it?

i totally agree with you about nursing diagnoses and care plans-awful-not useful at all to me in any way! i went to school with the care plans-that was bad enough. thank goodness i didn't go to school and work with those nursing diagnoses. in the real world, how could there ever be time to write care plans out for every patient? those diagnoses are ridiculous-worse than the care plans. do they actually use any of this in today's hospitals? i am from a school nursing background, and i was thinking of going back to the hospital while getting my masters-maybe! in this theory class, nothing has been mentioned about either one!

i also agree with you about the docs. they certainly couldn't respect any nurse using such silly diagnoses.

i also agree with you about adn programs being linked with bsn programs. i almost went to a hospital diploma program when i was 17. if i could go back in time, i would have gone to the diploma program, learned my skills very well and then gone on to a bsn program. instead, i chose to go straight for the bsn-biggest career mistake of my life. i didn't feel secure enough to get a hospital job, so i got a job in a school and then became a teacher. i liked it well enough at the time.

now i am thinking of options for today. maybe i will work with experienced nurses to develop good adn bridge to bsn programs like you speak of with no care plans and no nursing diagnoses. i am a gifted teacher, and with the nurses help, we could plan something that may be terrific. i have been thinking of ways to bridge my ed and nursing backgrounds. lol

i have to go now, but tomorrow i am going to send you a great definition of spirituality that i read in an article in this class. it is totally non religious and non ism, and i was wondering what you would think timothy. i really liked it.

have to run now!

krisssy

Specializes in MICU, SICU, recovery, home health, TELE.

i am new to this site and it is required that our class participate in these forums. I have spent time looking over many posts i believe that each nurse should embrace the theories that drive their individual practice and keep an open mind to those that do not. We have to remember that not all people think alike. I have enjoyed reading eveyones points and views regarding nursing theory and at this time i do not house enough knowledge to comment on any one theory. In the future however when i have gained knowledge in this area i will participate more. thanks for a great morning of reading.

rachael:cheers:

Specializes in Tele,Neuro ICU.

I too am new to this forum but have read many posts here on theory. I think with all the theories that are available I agree with griddlebone. One should adapt the theory that best drives their practice. What we don't realize is that there are nursing theories that we practice on daily basis in our work such as the Health Care Model and Self Efficacy. I am not well versed in all the theories, but I don't think they should be totally discounted. They came about and are still being used by some and taught by others in school for a purpose.

Andrea

Hello all,

This is a really interesting thread. Forgive me if this was already discussed (I didn't read all the pages), but is there theory in traditional medicine (MD)? If yes, how is it different? I haven't started my nursing program yet, so I haven't taken theory yet.

Nursing theory is essential to our practice. It goes hand in hand with research and professional developement. Without it we are minimalizing ourseleves to a bunch of glorified butt wipers...:specs::specs:

Specializes in home & public health, med-surg, hospice.

Welcome to all the new readers!

This thread orignated some time ago and I have slept (many times) since our initial discussions...

However, unless my memory serves me wrong ~ no one was advocating that theory be thrown out altogether, rather the point of contention was the emphasis, which is placed upon it.

Does theory guide practice? No doubt, of course it does. However, when the body of knowledge related to the application of nursing science is so vast and there are so many varying theories;

the general consensus amongst most of the posters on this thread was that there could be a greater degree of equilibrium between the two (theory & practice) within our schools of learning.

P.S. This thread has been hands down my favorite on All Nurses!

Hello all,

This is a really interesting thread. Forgive me if this was already discussed (I didn't read all the pages), but is there theory in traditional medicine (MD)? If yes, how is it different? I haven't started my nursing program yet, so I haven't taken theory yet.

I believe the older theories in medicine are allopathy and osteopathy. Both of these have a sort of theoretical framework. Less prominent theories of medicine would be homeopathy, naturopathy and chiropractic. I think you could also say that "holistic medicine" incorporates another theoretical approach. I apologize for not explaining these theories in any more detail. (Maybe someone with a better background in medical theory could add to this?) I think that other health care disciplines also have theoretical bases. For example, I remember being surprised at the theory emphasis in an occupational therapy text.

we are not glorified butt wipers if we question the validity and coherence of "nursing theory" or "nursing science" as a legitimate discipline. More appropriately, there are aspects to nursing theory that are difficult, such as, the grand theories of nursing. Why devote a class to them? In fact, they are ethical theories; that is, they describe approaches to dealing with patients while in the role of the nurse. As ethical theories, they are difficult to operationalize into scientific propositions. If we could start by agreeing to this fact, then much of the content of "nursing knowledge" would be more logical and accessible. However, nursing theory is generally ascribed the notion of science (which it isn't) and we proceed to spend much time running around in circles. An ideal curriculum would put grand theories of nursing and relate them to ethical theories. Mid range theory could be integrated with care of the the patients they deal with (kolcaba's sp? comfort theory with a discussion of pain). The whole issue of nursing diagnosis either needs to be tossed or significantly revised. The nursing process would be much more simple and accessible to students if we could make medical diagnosis when appropriate (sorry D. Orem) such as the case when a pt is hypertensive. My contention is that any junior nursing student can make this diagnosis although she likely can do little to treat it unlike someone with more training. However, in nursing school, instead of following a logical course of reason and diagnosis htn, we instead call it altered hemodynamics which is a meaningless term that obscures not only the condition but also any learning that may have been possible for the poor student. To go back to the original complaint, if we are clear about what nursing theory and science really are, we will be professionals with integrity shaped by ethical discussion with the thinkers of nursing (who need to be reinterpreted for our modern situation.) and not glorified butt wipers (besides, how is butt wiping glorified anything?)

el chupacabra

Specializes in Pain Management.

The two classes that I am in to start my master's degree are Graduate Research and Advanced Nursing Theory.

Yeah.

I will readily admit that my Nursing Theory class is not as bad as I thought it would be. The Theoretical Nursing 4th Ed text by Meleis is a fairly decent read, although in the first few chapters I can definitely see a major point of contention that might contribute to the schism:

Do we need nursing theory? If we [as APN's] use theories from other fields like medicine, does that devalue nursing?

Now I understand the need to separate ourselves from other health care fields by developing and utilizing our own theory, but is it an effective use of curriculum time to focus on the nuances of nursing theory as opposed to spending more time in the clinic or taking cadaver anatomy [or taking more therapeutics classes that pertain to our focus area]?

It almost seems like the desire to push nursing theory (instead of borrowing from other fields) is resulting in the exclusion of knowledge from other fields.

[returns to reading about nursing ethics...]

Specializes in FNP.

I spent way too much time on theory and research in my master's degree. I wanted more time with pathophys, biochemistry, disease management, cardiology, and so on. Now the DNP programs (which are supposed to be practice doctorates!) are more of the same. Theory and research, leadership and management. I won't be getting a DNP unless they truly morph into practice doctorates.

Dana

Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

It almost seems like the desire to push nursing theory (instead of borrowing from other fields) is resulting in the exclusion of knowledge from other fields.

[returns to reading about nursing ethics...]

For the record, I agree ... and I teach a theory course. I think most people teach theory horribly and cling to out-dated notions about theory and its place in our profession.

I value theory immensely and know that we have to continue our development of nursing theory. But that development needs to be done without being overly afraid of theory developed from within other disciplines. We need to position ourselves as equal partners in the scholarly world -- working WITH the scholars of other disciplines, not working in opposition to them.

I think our profession got so hung up in trying to define what is UNIQUE to nursing (which is an important task for us) .... that some people can't think of OTHER scholarly issues that ALSO need to be accomplished that involved scholarship and theory development.

We act as if we have an inferiority complex. I think that inferiority complex is part of the reason we are so weak in the theory area ... but I also think we are weak in that area because so few nurses are willing to embrace the theoretical work that needs to be done to improve our theory. Not many nurses like it, so the work doesn't get done ... which leads to bad theory ... and poor theory teachers ... which causes students to hate it ... which results if few people willing to do the work that needs to be done ... etc. etc. etc.

Specializes in ICU,ED (intern).

The last four paragraphs of the sidebar are simply.....

http://jef.raskincenter.org/published/NursingTheoryForSite.html

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