The health of the population is the most valuable achievement of the society. Therefore, it’s maintaining and strengthening is an important task, in which all without exception must participate. The professional and ethical obligation of the nurse to provide, as far as possible, urgent medical care to any person who needs it. The primary condition of nursing activity is professional competence.
Continuous improvement of specialized knowledge and skills, raising its cultural level is the first professional duty of a nurse (Cody, 2013). The nurse must be competent in the moral and legal rights of the patient. The highly influental role in accomplishing this task is assigned to nurses that are numerous, hard-working and one of the central part of health care (Alligood, 2013). There are various theories and concepts exist that assist the nurses in providing an appropriate aid to the patients.
Critical Theory
Critical theory is aimed mainly at various aspects of social and intellectual life. Marxism inspired the development of a critical approach, as we know, was formed primarily as a critical analysis of philosophical ideas, and later become the basis of the capitalist system. Therefore, the critical approach from the very beginning dealt with both problems of society and various methods of cognition (Bronner, 2017).
Leading theorists of this trend analyzed the essential features of a mass society and its culture, the base of the totalitarian regime, liberal and late capitalism, revealed mechanisms for the reproduction of alienation and critical-reflexive means of opposing it in inter-human communication (Tyson, 2015). They found realistic prospects for the synthesis of the heritage of German classical philosophy, Marxism and modern trends of Western thought. Moving in this direction, they offered an original understanding of the possibility of the interaction of philosophy and social and humanitarian knowledge in the matter of critical reflection on the realities of public life and culture.
Self-Care Deficit Nursing Theory
The situations where a person faces some difficulties and some barriers occur everywhere. Especially such circumstances are typical for patients who not always can cope with these situations and overcome it. In particular, such situations might include an understanding of the health condition, accepting of medical aid and implementation of all doctors orders (Alligood, 2013). Such conditions will undoubtedly lead to the lack of the interest to own health and consequently worsening of the situation. In this occasion, nurses assist in the accepting of the current situation, help to be responsible for patients health and erase all concerns about the disease.
Self-Care Deficit Nursing Theory includes taking care of the patient, helping to choose a correct option to avoid prolongation of illness. This theory involves improving patients self-care for the maintenance of his health and promoting well-being (Cody, 2013). Such therapeutic self-care includes methods aimed to lead onto a complete understanding of health conditions and providing definite evidence of the necessity of the therapeutic procedure. The appropriate education and in-depth knowledge will contribute to a prosperous implementation of this concept and, as a result, will assist with a correcting of patient condition and increasing the effectiveness of treatment.
Combining the Ideas
The combination of these concepts will lead to the increase of effectiveness in improving patients’ outcome. Despite the proclamation of this very ambitious goal, most of the representatives of critical theory could not reconcile theory and practice. If they were criticized for that most often, it is because the critical approach is usually expounded in such a language that it remains incomprehensible to the masses of people (Tyson, 2015).
Also, the interest of critical theory in culture as a superstructure was expressed in the fact that she investigated some very exotic topics that are not relevant to everyday life. Nevertheless, the application of these two concepts in nursing will increase the effectiveness of the treatment. The critique of the patient’s condition and situation by himself will raise a motivation and strength to struggle against the disease. Notwithstanding, the significant condition of application of these theories is not to impair rights of the patient and not to compel to do something that contradicts of his will.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the two theories presented in this work have the one common aim and can be realized in the field of medicine. Non-nursing critical theory and self-care deficit nursing theory can be applied to the patient by the practical nurse. In-depth knowledge of these concepts and ability to applicate those in praxis will unquestionably provide a great result. Nevertheless, the nurse must be steadily ready to provide competent assistance to patients regardless of their age or gender, the nature of the disease, race or nationality, religious or political beliefs, social or material situation or other differences.
Carrying out the care, the nurse must respect the patient’s right to participate in planning and conducting the treatment. Manifestations of arrogance, disparagement or degrading treatment of the patient are unacceptable. The nurse has no right to impose his moral, religious, political convictions on the patient. That is why the only correct application of these approaches will allow assisting in struggling with the disease, improving therapeutical procedures and overall treatment.
References
Alligood, M. R. (2013). Nursing Theory – E-Book: Utilization & Application. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Bronner, S. E. (2017). Critical theory: A very short introduction. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Cody, W. K. (2013). Philosophical and theoretical perspectives for advanced nursing practice. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Tyson, L. (2015). Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide. London, UK: Routledge.