Introduction
Nursing theories are used to define rigorous and creative structuring of thoughts that project a purposeful, tentative and systematic phenomena view. They refer to to the association of various related theories that model nursing practices. Watson’s theory is one among the many Nursing theories that provide information on health. There are various types of nursing theories with paramount societal significance. In an attempt to gather more information on nursing theories, this paper seeks to provide information on how Watson explains his views. Importance of nursing theories will also be discussed in detail. Being an important sector in the society, nursing theories are of great importance as well. Having picked Watson’s theory, the paper will discuss how the information provided can effectively be applied in healthcare policy. Healthcare is one of the major sectors in the society that should be looked into with a lot of consideration since it affects the wellbeing of the people. This fact explains why there are many theories concerning the sector and why people in the society ought to be educated over such matters and how health matters ought to be handled.
Importance of Nursing Theory
There are three main types of nursing theories. They are all of great importance to the society because the information contained therein is of significance in dealing with healthcare issues. The three types are:
Grade nursing theories: This form of theories have the widest scope and current general propositions and concepts. They provide as well as reflect insights that are useful in practicing but not designed to be used in empirical testing. This fact gives a clear impression that theories in this level cannot be implemented in the direction, explanation and prediction of nursing in certain circumstances. These theories are meant to be appropriate in all nursing instances. They comprise conceptual frameworks that define many perspectives of how to look into the phenomena of nursing. [Need an essay writing service? Find help here.]
Mid-range nursing theories: they are a bit narrow in terms of scope than the theories in the grand nursing level. They provide an operative link between theories in the nursing practice and grand nursing levels. They also present thought and lower level of generalization. The theories in this category are also known to hold great promise to increase theory-based exploration as well as strategies of nursing practices.
Nursing practice theories: the last form of nursing theories which have the utmost limited scope as well as generalization level. These theories offer frameworks for interventions in nursing; they predict the results and the effects of nursing practices (Alligood, 2013).
Importance of nursing is seen in the contemporary society because things are quite different from decades back. In the past years of history in nursing, there was lack of knowledge. It was generally a difficult task to get people to know more about healthcare and there was great need for categorizing knowledge for this particular reason. The need to categorize this knowledge was to make sure that people could evaluate circumstances of client care for the purpose of connecting in essential and comprehensible ways (Alligood, 2014). Nursing theories today make it possible since they contain information that offers a plan for examining and reflecting a specific direction for making plans. They provide plans for management, investigation process as well as the process of making decisions. Apart from making it possible to have a plan, nursing theories also administer a communication structure. Communication is one among the many facets that make it possible to succeed in various plans in the contemporary society. Without successful communication, it is not easy for an individual or a team to work towards achieving set goals. [Click Essay Writer to order your essay]
In the healthcare system therefore, nursing theories makes it possible for nurses and other representatives in the healthcare sector to effectively communicate and make good decisions when dealing with issues in the sector. Nursing theories also help in developing the formulation of values, beliefs and goals in nursing. They help those who work in the sector to define the various nursing contributions with care of customers. In the healthcare sector, theories are of significance for research activities and acting as a guideline for all the practical activities.
Watson’s Theory
Jean Watson is one of the women who entered the field of nursing because she saw it as a way of caring about people. Jean is one of those people who have compassion because she is concerned about taking care of other people. Compassion is one of the traits that nurses possess as their main duty is to take care of patients and ensuring they have their normal health back. Possessing the compassion trait, Watson came up with a nursing theory with the title Philosophy and Science of Caring. In her theory, she provides information on how nurses ought to take care of patients and how caring translates into better plans for health in helping patients. Caring is the central aspect in the practices of nursing which upholds health better compared to a medical sure. Jean believes that an all-inclusive methodology in health care is central to nursing practice. According to her, caring manifests itself in each community but a caring attitude is not transferred from one generation to another. Rather, the attitude is transferred by nursing profession as a culture and an approach of coping with the environment. According to Watson’s theory, caring can be practiced and demonstrated by nurses. The act of caring is one way to promote growth through accepting an individual and looks at what they will be in future.
Her theory consists of ten carative facets which are
- Instilling faith and hope
- Creating humanistic-altruistic system of values
- Cultivating understanding to self and to other people
- Developing a helping-trust relationship
- Promotion of expressing feelings
- Using problem-solving approach in making decisions
- Promotion of teaching-learning,
- Promoting an environment that is supportive
- Offering help in gratifying human needs
- Allowing for existential-phenomenological forces.
The first three facets mentioned above create the philosophical foundation of her theory which is about the science of caring (Owens, 2013). The other seven facets are defined by the foundation. The human needs Jean explains that need to be gratified include: lower-order biophysical needs of fluids and food, ventilation and elimination, lower-order psychophysical needs including sexuality and activity-inactivity and higher-order psychosocial needs which are affiliation, achievement, self-actualization and intrapersonal-interpersonal needs (Owens, 2013). There are four major concepts in Jean’s nursing theory. These concepts are: health, human being, the environment and nursing. All these four aspects explain how life is and how things should be handled. Right from the health of a person and how the environment affects people as well as nursing practices, they are all related and one cannot do without the other. According to Jean, she points out that the aspects make up the society and how daily lives carry on.
Application of Watson’s Theory to Health Policy
Watson’s theory can effectively be applied in health policies. First of all, the theory provides information on how nurses are expected to carry out their duties and effectively take care of their patients. A human being has to be cared for, has to be accorded with respect, has to be well taken care of especially when sick, has to be understood and assisted. An example si when there is a patient who is critically ill. A nurse is not expected to give up on the patient with the assumption that they might die. In such a case, a nurse ought to take good care of the patient trying to make them better than they are. Another example is a situation where there is a patient who has a minor injury. A nurse in such a case should not ignore the patient stating that their illness is not critical. All patient regardless of whether their status are critical or not ought to be attended to as expected when they visit a health care institution. This is the main philosophical view of how a human being has to be handled. To achieve such a goal, it takes those who possess the caring trait.
Nurses are the ones who take care of and offer medical services to sick people. In this case, they are expected to possess the caring trait for them to be patient enough and attend to them until they are well no matter how long it takes. When an individual is sick, their life is at stake and it takes a committed, caring and patient nurse to attend to them making sure they do all in their effort for the sick person to get well within a short time. All the processes explained in Jean’s theory are applicable in health policy. She explains step by step on how an issue in the healthcare sector can effectively be handled. The first step is to assess the situation and this involves observing, identifying and reviewing the matter as well as formulating a hypothesis. The next step is creating a care plan and making determinations on how variables and data have to be examined and collected (Murphy, 2014). The nurses are then expected to carry out evaluations and interpret the results for the purpose of knowing which best medical services to offer to patients. One main advantage about Jean’s theory is that it creates a generalized framework which can be applied to various circumstances and patients. [“Write my essay for me?” Get help here.]
Conclusion
Jean Watson’s theory is one of the best nursing theories that can be used by nurses. The theory contains information that helps nurses in understanding how well they should take care of their patients. Caring for the patients is what defines a successful nursing. Nurses ought to make sure that the first trait they possess is the caring trait, for the purpose of making nursing practices successful and appreciated in the healthcare sector.
Alligood, M. R. (2013). Nursing theory: Utilization & application. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Alligood, M. R. (2014). Nursing theorists and their work. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Murphy, H. (2014). Caring Theory and HeartMath: A Match Made in Heaven. Global Advances in Health and Medicine, 3 (Suppl 1), BPA18.
Owens, M. M. (2013). The Effects of Watson’s Theory of Caring and the Nurse Utilization of Caring Attributes.
