Nursing Theory

• Nursing theory - A conceptualization of some aspect of reality that can be invented (formulated) or discovered that pertains to nursing
• Nursing Theory organizes bodies of knowledge to define WHAT NURSING IS, WHAT NURSES DO, and WHY DO THEY DOO IT
• Theory-based, evidence-based research output: Together with research and practice, it is one of the foundations in the development of nursing as a unique discipline
• MAIN PURPOSE:

  • Describing, explaining, predicting, and prescribing nursing care
• Prescribing nursing care- the total provision of your holistic care and management of your patient or client
• Nursing students developed their theories in nursing, and they became more equipped to care for patients with more caring needs like those in critical settings.
• Predicting a specific application of the set established nursing theory in terms of how this practice evolved now in the current situation, in the current scenario talking about nursing as a profession
• There are 3 elements of nursing theory
• Has a set of well-defined constructs (concepts that suit a common purpose to explain specific phenomena)
• Has a set of propositions
• Should have a hypothesis/es
• A hypothesis is a conjecture that tests the relationship between the constructs and prepositions.
• Null hypothesis negative statement
• Alternative hypothesis positive statement
• There are 4 uses of nursing theory
• To differentiate the focus of nursing from other professions
• Nursing Act 9173 is said to be the current nursing law
• Independent, dependent, and collaborative interdependent nursing function: the differentiation or categorization in terms of knowing the full scope, the full focus of nursing as a profession compared to other professions in our country
• To structure professional nursing into practice, education,  and research 
• It gives structure in terms of your foundation of knowledge and skills to your professional nursing.
• Dealings, proceedings, and current trends, in terms of these 3 important domains.
• To help build a common nursing terminology to use in communicating with other healthcare professionals
• Talks about interdependent/collaborative  (communication between the healthcare team related to the patient’s overall health status or health concerns) functions being a nurse or professional nurse
• Febrile State: a state of abnormal body temperature; your patient has a fever
• Afebrile State: state of a normal body temperature; no fever
• Dyspnea (Dys= difficulty; pnea= breathing): Difficulty of breathing (DOB) or Shortness of breath (SOB)
• Hypertension (Hyper= abnormally increase; Tension: blood pressure): (normal blood pressure: 120/80 mm Hg)
• Hypotension (Hypo= abnormally decrease; Tension= blood pressure):
• Tachycardia (Tachy= abnormally increase; Cardia= heart rate): Resting heart rate- 80-100 bpm
• Bradycardia (Brady= abnormally low; Cardia= heart rate)
• To enhance the autonomy of nursing by defining its own independent functions
• 3 components of nursing theory according to barnum (1994)
• CONTEXT: the environment in which the nursing act takes place
• CONTENT: the main subject of the theory
• MAIN FACTOR you need to consider to start establishing your Nurse-Patient Relationship is RAPPORT
• PROCESS: the method the nurse uses in applying the theory