Introduction to Nursing Theory

• Nursing Theories - play a significant role in nursing education, practice and patient interaction
• Nursing Theory - a framework designed to organize knowledge, and explain phenomena in nursing
• Nursing theory - term given to the body of knowledge that is used to support nursing practice
• Nursing Theory - based of evidence and research, it helps provide a foundation
• Florence Nightingale - first nursing theorist and the founder of modern nursing
• Nightingale established the School of Nursing at Saint Thomas Hospital in London
• Nursing theories - served as a backbone for best practices
• Nursing Theories - a theoretical foundation on which the knowledge base of the nursing profession has been and is being built
• Nursing Theory - helps distinguish nursing as a separate disciple from medicine and related sciences
• Praxis - performance or application of skill
• Philosophy - helps nurses to think more critically and reflect on how their own values influence their practice and way of being
• Epistemology - a branch of philosophy that deals with the theory of knowledge; it studies the nature of knowledge, the rationality of belief, and justification
• Rationalism - a theory that states knowledge comes through reason; reason is the source of knowledge and justification
• Empirical Knowledge - knowledge that arises through experience
• Priori Knowledge - knowledge that is prior to experience and that arises through reason
• Empiricism - a theory that states that knowledge comes only or primarily from sensory experience
• Immanuel Kant - founder of Rationalism
• John Locke - Founder of Empiricism
• Tabula rasa - term used to refer to a blank slate
• Nursing Theories - organized bodies of knowledge to define what nursing is, what nurses do, and why they do it
• Philosophy - beliefs and values that define a way of thinking and are generally known and understood by a group or discipline
• Theory - A belief, policy, or procedure proposed or followed as the basis of action
• Concept - often called the building blocks of theories; are primarily the vehicles of thought that involve images
• Models - are representations of the interaction among and between the concepts showing patterns
• Conceptual Framework - a group of related ideas, statements, or concepts
• Conceptual Model - represent ways of thinking about a problem or ways of representing how complex things work the way that they do
• Proposition - are statements that describe the relationship between the concepts
• Domain - the perspective or territory of a profession or discipline
• Process - are organized steps, changes, or functions intended to bring about the desired result
• Paradigms - a pattern of shared understanding and assumptions about reality and the world, worldview, or widely accepted value system
• Metaparadigms - the most general statement of discipline and functions as a framework in which the more restricted structures of conceptual models develop
• Holarchy - a theory of the structure of nursing knowledge; consists of a metaparadigm, philosophies, conceptual models, theories, and empirical indicators
• Nursing Philosophies - abstract type and sets forth the meaning of nursing phenomena through analysis, reasoning, and logical presentation
• Nursing Conceptual Models - comprehensive nursing theories that are regarded by some as pioneers in nursing
• Grand Nursing Theories - works derived from nursing philosophies, conceptual models, and other grand theories
• Middle-Range Theories - precise and answer specific nursing practice questions
• Levels of Nursing Theories

  • Grand Nursing Theories - any theory based on broad, abstract, or more complex concepts will fall under this category
  • Middle-Range Nursing Theories - get into more specific areas of nursing as opposed to grand theories
  • Practice-Level Nursing Theories - deal with very situation-specific concepts that are narrow in scope and home in on a specific patient population