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1. Importance of Nursing Theory Discussion HW
Importance of Nursing Theory Discussion HW ON Importance of Nursing Theory
Discussion HW1, just 2 paragraph, more than 300 words, no need APA header or footer or
anything formal2, Read the study material before you write the discussion please3, Make
sure have at least 2 scholar reference that is not from the study material. The reference
require APA style4. Please find the study material and request attached.5, no grammar
mistake, no plagiarizeImportance of Nursing Theory Discussion
HWattachment_1attachment_2Unformatted Attachment PreviewThe purpose of this week
is to assist the student in understanding theory as a characteristic of the nursing profession.
Purposes and influences of theory are discussed with an emphasis on the importance of
establishing and validating nursing as a profession. A historical overview of theory
development within nursing is discussed. Nursing As a Practice Profession It is important to
realize that nursing is a practice profession. For generations, various nursing leaders have
struggled to gain recognition for nursing as a profession. To be acknowledged as a
profession means that the career has a specific period of academic preparation, requires a
competency examination, and involves licensure in order to work with clients (Parker &
Smith, 2015). Other requirements of a profession include a specific and unique body of
knowledge, professional membership, and work as a social mandate performed in the
public sector (Porter-O’Grady & Malloch, 2016). An additional characteristic of a profession
is a code of ethics to guide decisions and actions (PorterO’Grady & Malloch, 2016; Thomas &
Richardson, 2016). Now that we have established characteristics of a profession, the term
practice indicates that the focus of the profession is to assist individuals in some manner. As
a practice profession, the primary purpose for developing the science or knowledge base of
professional nursing is ultimately to the health of patients, families, communities, and
society itself. As noted by Donaldson and Crowley (1978), theory and knowledge
development are required because of the challenge they offer for advancing nursing
practice. McCarthy (2016) also emphasized the importance of continued theory
development and applications of current theory to guide nursing practice “through new
technologies, global health, and emerging public health issues” (p.4). Every discipline or
profession has its own unique body of knowledge. Importance of Nursing Theory Discussion
HWAs a profession that has boundaries, a unique knowledge base, its own ethical code, and
professional standards, nursing describes a unique professional group of individuals with a
common focus (Parker & Smith, 2015). Although many disciplines have the person as its
object or focus, it is the use of knowledge in order to accomplish its unique aim or outcome

2. that allows for the establishment of boundaries between disciplines (Melnyk &
FineoutOverholt, 2011; McEwen & Wills, 2014). As a body of knowledge grows and is
verified through research, it is applied to the practice of the profession. This idea that
knowledge guides practice and practice builds knowledge is not unique to nursing. For
nursing, however, the development of a specific knowledge base has been slow. It has taken
decades for nursing as a profession to separate itself from other healthcare professions (i.e.,
medicine) (Parker & Smith, 2015). Please note the following diagram. Different healthcare
professional areas of practice are identified. Note the multiple ways that one professional
practice can interplay with another professional practice. Now consider an individual who
has experienced an exacerbation of heart failure. All health care professions have a
significant role in the rehabilitation of this individual. Identify interventions that involve
two or more of the professions (i.e. medication therapy, care coordination, or life style
education). Identify interventions that may be demonstrated by two or more of the
professions (i.e., swallowing precautions). Identify interventions that would be unique to a
profession. Identify which interventions the profession of nursing provides and consider
whether or not the interventions are unique. What consequences to the individual would
result if the nursing profession “disappeared” from the diagram? Importance of Nursing
Theory Theory provides the basis, or framework, of the nursing profession and helps to
identify the unique qualities of the profession. Iskandarani, Al Hammadi, and Al Gizani
(2012) stated nursing theory defines the meaning of nursing profession, provides
understating to role performance of a nurse, and provides knowledge for practice Without
theory to explain the focus of the nursing profession, the profession may lose direction and
its understanding of new knowledge to build upon the discipline. Theory provides the
structure of nursing practice and a method for collecting and analyzing data to explore,
describe, and predict nursing practice (Parker & Smith, 2015). Furthermore, theory
provides nurses with a systematic means of challenging and ing intuition. Theories make
nursing practice meaningful by identifying the process of practice, as well as linking those
processes with outcomes of care (Parker & Smith, 2015). Ways in which theories influence
are through the following means: • • • • • Identify criteria for standards of practice in varied
settings. Identify the vast and various settings in which nursing practice should occur.
Identify nursing processes and technologies to be used for patient assessments and
interventions, strategies for implementing interventions, and methods for assessing
intervention outcomes. Direct the delivery of person-centered nursing care. Direct the
quality and improvement of practice outcomes. Why does theory have a role in a practice
profession such as nursing? Let’s go back to our original discussion of nursing being a noun
and/or a verb. Even in this current century, there are individuals who believe that nursing
should focus only on following physician’s orders and helping people and that it is not a
unique profession but rather a trade. Often, these individuals focus solely on the verb
function of nursing and identify that theory has no role or benefit at the bedside of a patient.
This is represented in the picture below. Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. A
practice profession is more than a sum of its interventions. Within the midst of the
Information Age, professional nurses are knowledge workers, using knowledge and
evidence to influence and enhance decisionmaking (Nagle & Yetman, 2009) in both clinical

3. and nonclinical settings. If professional nursing actions were limited to a list of specific
interventions or orders, the art of nursing would be missing. Nursing theory tells us that the
profession of nursing is not just a verb or a noun—it is both. Historical Overview of Theory
in Nursing It was not until the 1950s and 1960s, almost 100 years after Florence
Nightingale’s Notes on Nursing, that nursing leaders initiated an effort to define or explain
why and how the profession of nursing is different from other healthcare professions.
Importance of Nursing Theory Discussion HWThe major impetus of this push was to
develop a theory that, in the words of Florence Nightingale, would describe what is and
what is not nursing (Parker & Smith, 2015). In Notes on Nursing (1859), Nightingale
outlined the fundamental aspects of nursing practice. Nightingale felt that nurses would use
their critical-thinking skills through their observations of the sick and their environments
and develop knowledge about factors that promoted patient healing and outcomes of care.
Nightingale’s theoretical framework for nursing emphasized the importance of empirical
knowledge based on nursing assessments and interventions. Nightingale believed that
nursing knowledge was distinct from medical knowledge (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt,
2011; McEwen & Wills, 2014). Subsequent to Nightingale, a century passed before nursing
scholars started further development of theoretical works to describe and expand the
nursing profession, as well as to guide nursing practice (Parker & Smith, 2015). Click to see
the history of nursing theory development. (Links to an external site.) Transcript (Links to
an external site.) NR501 History of Nursing Theory Development Timeline Transcript Term
Definition Silent Knowledge (1859/1950) This is the minimal attempt by nurses to develop
theory; research was limited to epidemiological outcomes. Received Knowledge (1950s)
This phase was marked by nurse scholars borrowing theories from other professional
disciplines to expand upon nursing practice. As nurses received doctoral degrees, they
learned from and incorporated scholarly work of educators, psychologists, physiologists,
sociologists, and anthropologists to enhance the knowledge of nursing practice. Research
focused on describing nursing knowledge as concepts from educational or sociologic
research. Subjective Knowledge (1960s) Nurse scholars focused on developing theories
about and for nursing. Nursing theories focused on the concept of the nurse rather than on
patients and clinical situations. Procedural Knowledge (1970s) New and numerous
approaches to theory development by nurse scholars. The focus of nursing research was
placed on clinical practice nurses used to provide care for their patients, as well as attention
to the appropriateness of research design and statistical procedures for data analysis.
Constructed Knowledge (1980s) During this phase in the 1980s, nursing scholars began to
concentrate on the need to develop nursing theories that would be practical to the
profession and provide meaningful foundation for nursing practice. As a result, attention
shifted from grand theories to middle-range and practice theories. Nursing theory was
based on prior nursing research studies, literature, clinical experiences, intuition, and
knowledge. Thus, there was focus on concepts grounded in practice and linked to research.
This is the current stage of theory development in nursing. Press the ESC key to close the
image description and return to the page. This week’s lesson plan focused on the
importance of theory in the establishment, development, and preservation of the nursing
profession. Throughout this course, you will discover the various ways in which theory

4. provides the framework for our profession. Although at times theory may seem esoteric and
abstract, further exploration will illustrate the practicality of theory from the very abstract
grand theories to the micro-theories of nursing practice. Additionally, this course provides
the foundation for your transition into advanced nursing roles with an emphasis on
professional values, scholarship, service, and global awareness. This transition enables you
to move from being a doer of care to a beginning scholar of nursing. As a scholar, you will
expand beyond nursing interventions to grow, integrate, and apply knowledge in order to
meet the needs of society. The nursing profession cannot afford to have arbitrary
separations among the knowledge producers (researchers), knowledge users (practice),
and knowledge transmitters (educators). This is an initial course for nursing theory. So, let’s
have a debate. Is nursing theory important to the nursing profession? If you believe that it is
important, explain why it is useful. If you do not believe that it is useful, explain why nursing
theory is not necessary to the profession? Be sure to provide an example that demonstrates
your opinion and a scholarly reference (not using the required textbook or lesson) which s
your opinion.Importance of Nursing Theory Discussion HW