NUR 513 Topic 4 Discussion 2 Assignment

Assessment Description

Select two different nursing theories and describe how they relate to patient care. How could you use them to incite behavioral changes? Discuss the pros and cons of applying each approach and how they could be integrated into your future practice. Are there any particular ethical issues related to integrating these theories that should be considered?

In response to your peers, cite a study that used one of the nursing theories you discussed. Explain the impact of the nursing theory on your approach to patient care.

Cite at least one source to support your response.

NUR 513 Topic 4 DQ 2 Sample Approach

Florence Nightingale Environmental Theory And The Interpersonal Theory Developed By Peplau

Nursing theories enable health care workers to make a unique contribution to their patients’ care. Florence Nightingale’s environmental theory emphasized the importance of physical environment manipulation in nursing care. Nightingale developed 13 environmental canons and detailed each one (Gilbert, 2020). Ventilation, light, noise, room cleanliness, bed and linen cleanliness, personal hygiene, and eating are her main canons. Nightingale’s theory is relevant to patient care because changing a patient’s surroundings in accordance with her 13 canons can help the patient regain normal health or return to health (Gilbert, 2020). As a result, Nightingale laid the groundwork for comprehensive patient care that is still in use today.

The Environment Theory incites behavioral change because it focuses on patient care instead of the nursing process, the patient-nurse relationship, and the individual nurse. Consequently, it fits the requirements of particular patients because environmental factors affect different patients differently depending on their circumstances and illnesses, and the nurse must address the factors on a case-by-case basis to ensure they are modified in a way that cares for an individual patient and his or her needs. The theory’s advantages are that environmental elements that might lead to illness progression have been discovered (Gilbert, 2020).

The nurse can work around the clock and alter environmental elements to avoid future illness outbreaks. The theory’s disadvantage is that it presupposes that the illness process is a direct effect of the environment, which is not always the case.

Environmental theory ethical concerns include evaluating and explaining circumstances to develop formal behaviors, expressions, and dimensions for both morality and ethics colliding with legally specified tasks.

The interpersonal theory developed by Peplau emphasizes the interpersonal interactions and therapeutic connection that develops between the nurse and patient. Peplau’s interpersonal focus pertains to patient care because the theory encourages the nurse to attend to the interpersonal processes that occur between the nurse and patient, which include the nurse-client engagement, communication, pattern integration, and the nurse’s duties (Suhariyanto et al., 2018). The interpersonal theory incites behavioral change by simplifying the natural flow of the nurse-patient relationship, which leads to flexibility in any nurse-patient contact and consequently generalizability.

One of Peplau’s theory’s merits is that it has assisted later nursing theorists and clinicians in developing more therapeutic solutions for positions that exhibit the dynamic nature typical of clinical nursing. One of the shortcomings is that, whereas Peplau emphasized the nurse-client connection as the core of the nursing practice, health promotion and maintenance were underemphasized (Suhariyanto et al., 2018). Ethical issues related to interpersonal theory is that the theory cannot be used on a patient who does not have a perceived need, such as withdrawn individuals. 

References

  • Gilbert, H. A. (2020). Florence Nightingale’s Environmental Theory and its influence on contemporary infection control. Collegian (Royal College of Nursing,Australia), 27(6), 626–633. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colegn.2020.09.006
  • Suhariyanto, Hariyati, R. T. S., & Ungsianik, T. (2018). Improving the interpersonal competencies of head nurses through Peplau’s theoretical active learning approach. Enfermeria Clinica, 28, 149–153. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1130-8621(18)30056-1