Nursing Metaparadigm and Nursing Theory
Introduction
Paradigms are crucial concepts in steering the development of any scientific discipline as they shape the practices, education, research, and the steps of the discipline. The four main concepts of nursing metaparadigm that need to be comprehensively defined include person, environment, health, and nursing, and each plays a critical role in the nursing process and is vital in providing patient care (Duphily, 2014). Besides, understanding Watson’s Human Caring Theory in nursing metaparadigm is essential as it focuses on the magnitude of the spiritual dimension of human beings. This essay comparatively explains the four primary metaparadigm concepts of nursing in Watson’s Human Caring Theory.
Nursing Metaparadigm
Potter et al. (2017) define a paradigm as a pattern or a model of something that represents a constellation of perception, practices, and concepts of discipline and forms a specific vision of reality as a mental though or a viewpoint. On the other hand, Meta, a word with Greek origin, is a prefix used to indicate a concept that is an abstraction behind another concept. Therefore, Metaparadigm is a broad statement of discipline and functions as a framework in which narrower structures of conceptual models develop (Potter et al. 2017). They influence social phenomena, shape individual behavior, and attitudes of professional groups, thus serving as a guide for ethical principles, professional education, morals, and philosophy.
Duphily (2014) Claims that Fawcett first categorized the four main nursing Metaparadigms. The person factor metaparadigm connotes to the patient who is the recipient of the health care and includes things like a person’s culture, spirituality, friends, family as well as their socioeconomic status. The metaparadigm of the environment encompasses both external and internal factors relating to the patient wherever nursing care is provided. They include the interactions of the patient with as well as their surroundings.
Heath Metaparadigm connotes to the quality and wellness of the patient, including the accessibility of the patient to health care. The last in the list of Metaparadigms is the nursing component, which refers to the nursing personnel and how they apply their knowledge and skills while providing care to the patient. The nursing component also connotes to the attributes of the nurse who is providing healthcare to the patient. All practicing nurses need to apply the four Metaparadigms discussed during the nursing process when giving healthcare to patients to address patient care as a whole(Duphily, 2014).
Nursing Theorist
Summerell (2015) argues that three theorists extensively give out their interpretation of the four nursing Metaparadigms. The three include Florence Nightingale, Jean Watson, and Dorothea Orem, all with a common goal of achieving the best possible healthcare to patients. However, as modern-day medicine advances, it is feared that come may lead to a less altruistic and more methodical approach that forced Jean Watson, a United States theorist and nurse develop the theory of Human Caring, which views caring as a separate entity from curing. Although she includes spiritual and mental healing, she believes that providing care to patients connotes to more than curing of illness, and nurses should factor in “carative” factors.
According to Watson & Watson (2012), Dr. Jean Watson is a distinguished professor, nurse theorist director, and founder of not for profit Watson Caring Science Institute. She holds a bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) from the University of Colorado. In 1966, Watson progressed to achieve her master of science in nursing in psychiatric and mental health nursing and later a Ph.D. in educational psychology and counseling in 1973, all from the University of Colorado in Boulder. After completion of her doctoral studies, she served in both faculty and administrative positions in the faculty of nursing, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center at Denver. Moreover, she pursued international sabbatical studies in Australia, New Zeeland, Thailand, India, and Taiwan.
Watson’s Science of caring and Philosophy is Concerned with how practicing nurses provide care to their patients (Summerell, 2015). Her Human Caring Theory focuses on humanistic aspects of nursing as and intertwines with her nursing practice and scientific knowledge, which and be used broadly across the nursing discipline (Watson & Watson, 2012). She believes that a holistic strategy in providing healthcare is more primary in the practice of caring in nursing.
Conclusion
It is candid that the four main nursing Metaparadigms of person, environment, health, and nursing, and each plays an essential role in the nursing process and is vital in providing quality patient care. Moreover, accepting Watson’s Human Caring Theory in the nursing metaparadigm is more essential as it concentrates on the magnitude of the spiritual dimension of human beings, thereby promoting growth, accepting the patients the way they look. The model she uses to contain the same assessment, plan, intervention, and evaluation as the scientific research process.
References
Duphily, N. (2014). Transitioning From LPN/ LVN to BSN. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.
Potter, P. A., Perry, A. G., Hall, A., & Stockert, P. A. (2017). Fundamentals of nursing (9th Ed.). St. Louis, MO: Mosby Elsevier.
Summerell, P. (2015). EB133 Jean Watson’s Caritas Processes: A Model for Transforming the Nursing Practice Environment. Critical Care Nurse, 35(2), e66-e67.
Watson, J., & Watson, J. (2012). Human caring science: A Theory of Nursing (2nd ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.