Nursing Theory Reflection
The nursing philosophy is used as a guide to what a nurse believes to be true about the nature of the nursing profession and it provides a basis for nursing activities. Every nurse has a personal philosophy that directs the service delivery to the patients and the interaction with other medical team members. I am a psychiatric nurse, and my philosophy aims at providing holistic care to the patients and ensuring their safety to the best of my ability. I have been inspired by various nursing theorists as I work in the hospital set up to include John Lowe, Alvita Nathaniel, Elizabeth Lenz and Mary Jane Smith. John Lowe is the founder of the Cherokee self-reliance model used to control substance abuse among adolescents in Cherokee (McKenna et al., 2014). The model incorporates three aspects that I find useful including being responsible, being disciplined and being confident. When providing health education on substance abuse among psychiatric patients, I always use Lowe’s model.
Alvita Nathaniel describes the moral reckoning theory of nursing which consists of three stages; the novice period, stage of ease and the congruence stage. I find the theory useful in today’s practice because nurses are faced with morally troubling situations which need resolution and if left unturned, it can hinder performance at work. The third theorist is Elizabeth Lenz, and her theory of unpleasant symptoms helps nurses in diagnosing various conditions. According to Lenz, a symptom has three components including the symptom, the influencing factors, and the consequences (McKenna et al., 2014). The components are found to interact and influence one another. However, I do not find the theory useful because illnesses manifest with several symptoms making it difficult to analyze them effectively. Mary Jane Smith contributes to the nursing field through her theory of middle range. I find the work of Mary applicable in nursing research because it provides a series of many theories like self-reliance and transitions theory.
References
McKenna, H. P., Pankhihar, M., & Murphy, F. (2014). Fundamentals of nursing models, theories and practice. Chichester, England: Wiley Blackwell.
