Assignment: Nursing Theories
Assignment: Nursing Theories
Question Description
Discussion 1 question
Make a nursing-related research question (to be used for this discussion question only). Determine the variables that are independent and dependent. Next, develop a hypothesis or set of hypotheses to address your research question. Identify your hypothesis as belonging to one of the four categories listed below and explain why it belongs in each of these categories:
causal or associative
Simple or complicated
Directional vs. non-directional
Discussion 2 question: null vs. research
What is the difference between research and evidence-based practice (EBP)? Discuss how research findings can be translated into
evidence-based nursing practice.
300-350 words.
You should proofread your paper. However, do not rely solely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part, and your grade will suffer as a result. Papers with a high number of misspelled words and grammatical errors will be penalized. Before submitting your paper, go over it in silence and then aloud, and make any necessary changes. It is often beneficial to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Uncorrected mistakes are preferable to handwritten corrections.
Use a standard 10 to 12 point typeface (10 to 12 characters per inch). Smaller or compressed type, as well as papers with narrow margins or single spacing, are difficult to read. It is preferable to allow your essay to exceed the recommended number of pages rather than attempting to compress it into fewer pages.
Large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are also unacceptable, waste trees, and will not fool your professor.
The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced, and have a one-inch margin on all four sides of each page. When submitting hard copies, use white paper and print with dark ink. It will be difficult to follow your argument if it is difficult to read your essay.
Based on the required readings for this week, previous lessons and experience as a nurse, it is evident that nursing theory is necessary for nurses to offer quality care and navigate patient needs in the ever transforming and complex nursing profession. Nursing theory provides a framework that guides the nursing practice in using concepts and relationships in patient evaluations and interventions (Butts & Rich, 2018). If nursing practice lacked theory, possibly, there will be loss of separation and clear distinction of the profession. Society has historically considered nursing as a vocational occupation and not a profession where nurses are expected to carry orders by physicians and clinical officers, especially in developing countries, without any form of accountability. However, through the development of theory as proposed by Nightingale in her notes over a century back, nursing is now an evolving profession and academic discipline as well as a science. Pioneers in the profession established nursing theories and models to emphasize the role of nursing profession in enhancing patient outcomes and quality healthcare delivery. Nurses possess critical thinking and scientific knowledge as well as ideas that they can use to improve patient care delivery (Gilbert, 2020). They can develop individualized interventions focused on health promotion, disease prevention and long-term care for patients with terminal conditions.
Nursing theories help to instill identity in nurses, enabling patients and other healthcare providers and professionals as well as managers to appreciate nurses’ roles and individual contributions to healthcare promotion and patient quality care. Nursing theories allow nurses to offer patient-centered care, utilize evidence-based practice interventions in health promotion, and development of professional values and work ethics to attain better patient outcomes (Younas & Quennell, 2019). Nursing theory empowers nurses to understand the transforming health system, address the expanding care demand and improve professional knowledge and skills to attain better patient care. Evidence shows that the use of theory provides structure and organization to nursing knowledge and offers a systemic means of collecting information and data to describe, explain, and predict trends that will shape the nursing practice like the increased of health technologies through telemedicine among others.
Assignment: Nursing Theories References
Butts, B. J. & Rich, L. K. (2018). Philosophies and theories for advanced nursing
practice (3rd ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Gilbert, H. A. (2020). Florence Nightingale’s Environmental Theory and its influence on
contemporary infection control. Collegian, 27(6), 626–633. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colegn.2020.09.006
Younas, A., & Quennell, S. (2019). Usefulness of nursing theory‐guided practice: an integrative
review. Scandinavian journal of caring sciences, 33(3), 540-555.
DOI: 10.1111/scs.12670.