Introduction
King’s conceptual systems theory is founded on the idea that nursing depends on people. Her conceptual framework thoroughly explains the societal, interpersonal, and personal systems as three dynamically interacting systems. Examples of practice, teaching, research, and administration that draw upon her goal achievement theory are included below.
The primary objective of nursing is health, which may be defined as promoting, maintaining, or restoring health and caring for the ill, wounded, and dying (Park, 2021). All of the people one treats, regardless of age, have this as a goal. According to the approach, nurses work with people at the personal, family, and community levels while pursuing health as their primary objective across various settings. These systems may prove helpful across structures and are frequently coupled.
Three Systems and Their Examples
King’s conceptual model included several social, interactive, and individual systems. Social, interpersonal, and personal systems are used to classify the critical interrelating systems; every system contains its insights (Smith & Parker, 2020). The individual system, the first one, concerns how a person perceives time, space, and themselves concerning one of the two systems of thought.
People who relate to the context of nursing include the ill, family members, contacts, other healthcare professionals, priests, and nursing staff. Individuals are seen as personal structures through thinking, identity, growth and development, physical appearance, knowledge, time, confidentiality, and survival. For instance, the personal system manifests in a nurse’s dedication to continuous learning and conviction in delivering comprehensive patient care.
The relationships between two or more people shape another system, the interpersonal structure. The interpersonal system is triggered by interactions among people operating alone, in pairs, in trios, in small groups, and in significant groupings. Sub-concepts such as communication, role, transaction, stress, and coping help them interact with one another (Smith & Parker, 2020). The complexity of relationships also climbs as the number of people in a relationship increases.
Nursing staff and patients interact within the interpersonal system, which is considered a personal system. Communication, transaction, relationships, character, tension, and stress are essential for developing interpersonal relationships. For instance, a crucial component of the interpersonal system includes the interaction between the nurse and the patient, where good communication and mutual understanding of responsibilities contribute to quality healthcare.
The third type of system consists of social systems, which are made up of large groups with common goals or welfare. “An ordered boundary structure of social roles, actions, and practices established to maintain ideals and mechanisms that serve to regulate those behaviors and regulations” is the definition of a social system (Smith & Parker, 2020). Social systems can be seen in the context of health care, workplaces, religious institutions, schools, and relationships.
The most significant explanations for social systems include hierarchy, power, status, and decision-making (Park, 2021). This social structure also comprises a larger society that cooperates and acts as a conduit between local groups and larger institutions. One example of a social system affecting people at all life stages is the healthcare system. The whole patient experience is shaped by the structure, power, status, and decision-making of these healthcare institutions.
Influence on Goal Attainment
The goal achievement variables include roles, stress, time, and space. King’s conceptual model identifies three systems in which these factors become interwoven (Park, 2021). A nurse’s job in a medical institution is to help patients maintain and improve their health so they may carry out their varied responsibilities. A nurse regularly represents patients in court to protect their constitutional, medical, and human rights. The nurse often must assist the patient because many sick people can have difficulty understanding medical situations and responding appropriately.
A nurse’s duties include improving, maintaining, and restoring health and tending to the sick, injured, and dying (Fronczek, 2022). A professional nurse analyzes data while providing nursing care to plan, carry out, and evaluate nursing interventions. Interpersonal systems, which comprise the second system, are entrenched in sharing this data between the person being treated and the nurse. By exchanging information, the desired outcomes may be accomplished.
Whereas the patient brings information about themselves, including awareness of any issues related to the contact, the nurse brings specific skills and expertise. According to King’s conceptual framework for systems, a patient’s surroundings include nurses (Fronczek, 2022). It also describes how patients share their self-knowledge and perspectives on their medical issues with nurses throughout assessments, utilizing the nurses’ unique expertise and abilities. During the evaluation, the nurse gathers data on the patient’s growth and progress, self-awareness, and present health status. The information acquired during the assessment is used to develop the nursing diagnosis. As the patient works toward their objectives, the nurse notices issues, fears, and instability that the patient is seeking assistance for.
Clinical Quality Problem
King’s theory can be a valuable tool for identifying clinical quality problems related to patient safety, satisfaction with care, and high-quality treatment. Since communication is essential to building trust, which is the foundation of any connection between a healthcare professional and a patient, it can help define a healthcare quality problem (Drossman et al., 2021). It is achieved by locating points of disconnect where a nurse-patient connection is unable to produce fruitful outcomes. Patients have identified several factors that obstruct therapeutic nurse-patient interaction, including unfavorable patient attitudes, patient conditions, discriminatory nursing attitudes, a higher workload, and stress. Limitations to a nurse and a patient’s successful communication can be identified, and solutions to enhance quality in this area can be developed.
Practice Quality Improvement Initiative
For example, a nurse can use this notion with a post-operative patient who has had their gallbladder removed. First and foremost, he would ensure the patient is experiencing a reciprocal view of his situation. This would be accomplished by asking open-ended questions that usually elicit understanding of the patient’s perceptions of himself as a post-operative patient, his feelings toward the situation, and whether he fully understands the hazards associated with his position. It would assist us in determining an issue, such as his lack of interest in walking and post-operative activities.
It ought to be a nurse’s duty to assist him in understanding the repercussions of his behavior, including any potential difficulties. Next, he can establish a target that would guarantee he does not experience any issues following surgery. Additionally, he can agree with the nurses on how the patient should finish his workouts. Exercises like deep breathing, walking, and consuming enough food and liquids to maintain a healthy diet would all fall under this category. The patient may be discharged without any hazards after receiving treatment for a few days.
Quality Committee Alignment
A competent team might use King’s conceptual structure theory to simplify results in several ways. To achieve corporate objectives, nurses employ multidisciplinary quality assurance practices (Fronczek, 2022). In this regard, the committee employs interpersonal mechanisms to achieve its goals.
Patients may have severe side effects, treatment failure, or perhaps death as a result of using substandard or fake medical items. By spotting these issues before they can harm, quality inspection helps ensure that patients receive safe and effective therapies. As a result, the quality committee supports target achievement and personal systems. The concepts within the personal system include development, perception, self and space, growth, body image, and time.
The quality panel team should also be able to establish a mission or objective for the enhancement effort. The team’s initial responsibility is to set a purpose or goal for the improvement effort (Fronczek, 2022). By establishing this target, one will be better equipped to explain their goals to every department within their company that may need to help or support the intervention’s implementation. The nursing aspect aligns with symbolic interactionism, emphasizing interpersonal interactions as meaningful and purposeful exchanges rather than a simple stimulus-response connection. It views the interaction between individuals as an intentional, meaningful exchange of actions and reactions.
Integration with Other Nursing Theories
Hildegard E. Peplau’s Theory of Interpersonal Relations is a nursing theory discussed in the readings. According to Peplau’s theory, effective nurse-patient interactions should progress through three stages: orientation, working, and termination (Wasaya et al., 2021). Both theories stress that a trusting relationship between the healthcare provider and the patient is necessary for an excellent assessment and for developing a treatment plan that perfectly matches the patient’s path to recovery.
Nurses must use interpersonal interactions if issues arise at any level with the ground. According to Peplau’s idea, nursing provides therapeutic care and helps patients access medical care (Wasaya et al., 2021). Nursing employs interaction and the interpersonal process to accomplish a shared objective.
Reference
Drossman, D.A., Chang, L., Deutsch, J.K., Ford, A.C., Halpert, A., Kroenke, K., Nurko, S., Ruddy, J., Snyder, J., & Sperber, A. (2021). A review of the evidence and recommendations on communication skills and the patient–provider relationship: a Rome foundation working team report. Gastroenterology, 161(5), 1670-1688.
Fronczek, A. E. (2022). Ushering in a new era for King’s conceptual system and theory of goal attainment. Nursing science quarterly, 35(1), 89-91.
Park, B.-M. (2021) Development and effect of a fall prevention program based on King’s theory of goal attainment in long-term care hospitals: An experimental study. Healthcare, 9(6).
Smith, M. & Parker, M. E. (2020) Nursing theories and nursing practice (5th ed.) FA Davis.
Wasaya, F., Zulfiqar, S., & Farhan, A. (2021). A comparison and integration of two nursing theories into clinical practice: Betty Neuman and Hildegard Peplau. i-Manager’s Journal on Nursing, 11(3), 4.