Jody,
I agree with several assertions mentioned in your post regarding future issues in nursing
theory. First, you have emphasized that nursing theory provides a method of sharing in nursing
practice. Nursing theory can provide the nursing profession a unique identity and allows patients
and other healthcare professionals to recognize the unique contribution that nurses make to the
healthcare service (Pirani, 2016). Applying theory to nursing practice has many advantages, not
only for individual nurses but for the entire nursing profession as well. It gives the nurses the
opportunity to organize principles that will help them evaluate nursing care and modify and
improve interventions based on their findings in clinical practice. Nursing theories also provide
nurses with the rationale or basis for making clinical decisions. There are several recognized
trends in nursing that can be utilized in theory development such as the expansion in the use and
creation of middle-range theories, situation-specific (practice) theories, and evidence-based
protocols/procedures (McEwen & Wills, 2014).
Second, you have also noted in your post that when nursing theory, practice, and research
are connected in our profession, facilitating changes may be more efficient. It is of vital
importance for nurses to comprehend the interrelationship between theory, research and practice,
and to identify the “importance of this reciprocal relationship to the continuing development of
nursing as a profession” (McEwen & Wills, 2014, p. 502). According to Veloza-Gomez (2016),
envisioning the interrelationship between theory, research, and practice as part of the process of
nursing care can be viewed in the context of being, knowing, and doing, and can be represented
in knowledge, values, principles, and skills. This triad, from the standpoint of a caring science,
corresponds to the development of nursing knowledge that lends meaning to care provided and
can lead to improved health outcomes.
This course, NURS 502, has afforded me with numerous learning opportunities to
explore the field of nursing theories and how these concepts translate in my provision of
meaningful care in the clinical setting. I believe that nursing is a continuously evolving
profession with a great potential for the development of more specific theories that are applicable
in clinical practice and can be utilized for the overall improvement of the healthcare delivery
system. Through the various learning opportunities and coursework for NURS 502, my eyes
have been opened on how the application of nursing theories play a pivotal role in my daily
interactions with patients and in my clinical decision making. As a Christian nurse, I was
reminded that in my nursing practice, it is imperative for me that the person, environment,
health, and nursing cannot be fully understood without having a relationship with God and the
discovery of the fullness and implications of that relationship is a lifelong process that every
nurse should embark on (Shelly & Miller, 2006). As Philippians 4:9 (New International Version)
states, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me, put it into
practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”
References
McEwen, M., & Wills, E. M. (2014). Theoretical basis of nursing (4th ed.). Philadelphia, PA:
Wolters Kluwer Health.
Pirani, S. A. (2016, January 6). Application of Nightingale’s theory in nursing practice. Annals of
Nursing and Practice, 3(1). Retrieved from
https://www.jscimedcentral.com/Nursing/nursing-3-1040.pdf
Shelly, J. A., & Miller, A. B. (2006). Called to care: A Christian worldview of nursing (2nd ed.).
Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
