nursing theory for researcher_d only
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mccrink_applicationofnursingtheory.docxAPPLICATION OF NURSING THEORY 2
APPLICATION OF NURSING THEORY 5
Chamberlain College of Nursing
Theoretical Basis for Advanced Nursing
Running head: APPLICATION OF NURSING THEORY 1
A theory refers to a concept that proposes an action that guides practice and is used as principles for explaining a particular concept in any given field. Nursing theories refer to a set of assumptions, definitions, concepts, propositions or relationships obtained from nursing models. These theories attempt to explain the actions behind the nursing practice and make it possible to relate the associations between concepts and to control the nursing practice. One of the theories by Florence Nightingale is the Environmental theory.
The Environmental Theory discovered by Florence Nightingale in 1860 and is regarded as the earliest theory in the nursing profession. Historically patients were taken care of in a large room due to limited healthcare providers, then in the 1970’s hospital environments started to change for esthetic appeal. This theory focuses on the manipulation of the environment with the intention of stimulating the recovery process of a patient (Masters, 2012). According to Nightingale, nursing is definable as the act of using a patient’s environment to assist him in his/her recovery. Some of the environmental factors that can affect a patients health are, light, cleanliness, the quietness of an environment, clean water, diet, proper ventilation and overall design of hospital (Hegge, 2013).
This paper will be divided into various sections including a description of the issue, application of a selected Nursing Theory to issue and a conclusion with a summary of the key elements of my paper.
Description of Issue or concern
The issue being considered is the design of hospitals and the affects that it has on patients healing during their hospital stay. The issue of Environment is significant to leadership, education, and advance clinical practice. When hospitals incorporate a healing environment into the healthcare setting it not only optimizes the patient care and outcomes it also optimizes staff satisfaction, moral and retention. It has been shown that views of nature, natural light, soothing colors, therapeutic sounds and the interaction of family members can enhance healing (Altimier, 2004). Nurses and leaders should be very concerned with this issue because flaws in the environment can lead to increased falls, increased infections, increased hospital stays which all ultimately can affect the nurse and the establishment and can directly impact their patient’s outcomes. According to the Institute of Medicine medical errors and hospital acquired infections are among the leading causes of death in the United States. At this time the United States is having a increase in building more hospitals and remodeling aged hospitals form the late 1970’s. The reasons for the growth are new technologies, population shifts to the United States, aging of the baby boomers and increasing technologies.
A great attribute of a nurse is making their patient comfortable. Some ways they can make this happen are creating an inviting environment, ensuring a comfortable temperature, educate patients on how they can control some of the environmental factors in their room from their bed or call light. Nurse leaders can help this happen by being involved and visible in meetings and planning or remodeling of hospitals or hospital units. Physical environment has proved to be relevant in the healing process for the patients, their families and the healthcare providers. Evidence-based design is now the theoretical concept for what we are calling healing environments (Huisman, Morales, Van Hoof, & Kort, 2012).
Application of Selected Nursing Theory to Issue or Concern:
The Environmental Theory by Florence Nightingale and its importance to nursing, patients families and leadership is our topic of concern. It is very difficult to pick one strategy to that would be useful in resolving issues with the environment. Many factors play an integral role into environmental issues in the hospital setting. Some of the issues are improved lighting, increased number of sinks with improved positioning of the sinks, single patient rooms, reduction of noise and nature and positive distraction for the patients.
I am going to discuss the issue of nature and positive distraction for improved health of the patients. Distractions can include music, art on the walls or ceiling tiles, pet therapy, nature gardens, natural light sources. Significant research has been done showing that even brief encounters with simulated or real nature settings can elicit significant recovery from stress within three to five minutes. Unhealthy physical environments can negatively affect health and health-promoting environments can enhance health. Environmental health promotion is the study of promotion of healthy places. Characteristics of a healthy built hospital are built with safety in mind, single patient rooms built to decrease sounds, improved lighting, provide positive art work and nature gardens. When viewing nature for just a short period of time your blood pressure and heart rate can significantly drop and they have also seen a reduction in pain levels (Huisman et al., 2012). Stress of an unpleasant environment can cause you to feel anxious, sad, or helpless and when this happens it can cause increase in blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension and can depress your immune system (Largo-Wight, 2011).
My strategy to educating the nurses on the impact that the Environmental theory has on their patients would be to first hold a meeting and get back to basics. We would review Florence Nightingales Environmental theory. During the meeting it would be very important to gather ideas from the staff, by giving the staff a say they will be more likely to help implement the project. Some factors that we need to keep in mind while teaching the staff would be to keep the information relevant, state our goal for the meeting, state what the goals for our patients are and take into consideration what all participants have to say.
References
Altimier, L. B. (2004). Healing environments for patients and providers [journal]. Science Direct, 4(2), 89-92. http://dx.doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1053/j.nainr.2004.03.001
Hegge, M. (2013). Nightingale’s Environemntal Theory [Journal ]. Nursing Science Quarterly , 26(3), 211-219. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0894318413489255
How does the hospital environment influence outcomes and patient satisfaction. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.americansentinel.edu/blog/2013/12/11/how-does-the-hospital-environment-influence-outcomes-patient/
Huisman, E. R., Morales, E., Van Hoof, J., & Kort, H. M. (2012). Healing Environment: A Review of the impact of physical environmental factors on users [Journal ]. Building and Environment, 58, 70-80. http://dx.doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2012.06.016
Largo-Wight, E. (2011). Cultivating healthy places and communites: eveidenced based nature contact recomendations [journal ]. International journal of environmental health research, 21(1), 41-61. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09603123.2010.499452
Masters Education in Nursing and Areas of Practice. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.aacn.nche.edu/faculty/faculty-tool-kits/masters-essentials/areas-of-practice
