This paper describes and explains thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about the 4 metaparadigms of nursing. Read this sample to learn what metaparadigm of nursing is.
Introduction: What Is the Nursing Metaparadigm?
A nursing metaparadigm is a system of theories and concepts that allows nurses to deliver high-quality services, paying attention to all the necessary aspects of patients’ conditions. The main nursing metaparadigm concepts emphasize four interrelated components that determine the patient’s wellness.
However, there are some subjective factors that influence the nurse’s performance. All these factors are united in a personal nursing philosophy. It is a set of beliefs and values that nurses gradually form and acquire over time. The main goal of this paper is to define, describe, and explain my thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about the four concepts of nursing metaparadigm and their inter-relationship to each other as they guide my current nursing practice.
Factors Influencing a Personal Nursing Philosophy
Nurses are important members of the healthcare system as they deliver medical care to patients concerning ethical aspects. Therefore, professional nurses have to know ethical principles that might affect their performance. The quality of medical services directly depends on such principles. The philosophy of nursing sets the performance standards that are considered to be acceptable in healthcare settings. The philosophy guides nurses when it comes to interaction with patients and medical specialists. It determines ethical behavior and attitude, which influence decision-making processes. Personal beliefs and values that form the philosophy of nursing develop over time and are influenced by family, community, and cultural specificities. As the development of such a philosophy is a slow and gradual process, it changes throughout a person’s life. Individual beliefs have a significant impact on professional values. People analyze every situation through their own experience, thus it also influences the philosophy of nursing.
Metaparadigm Concepts of Nursing
There are four concepts that determine nursing practice: environment, health, person, and nursing. The nursing metaparadigms are made up of these concepts. Environment, health, and person phenomena are focused on a patient, while the nursing concept relates to a nurse’s work (Dupree, 2017).
As I believe, the nursing metaparadigm mostly revolves around the art of nursing and is based on nursing interventions. Therefore, it describes the nurse’s actions and requires applying vocational skills and knowledge. The next concept, person, includes not only patients but also their families and friends. Therefore, nurses should pay particular attention to them when planning care.
The health concept is also related to a patient and involves a subjective perception of their perspectives. Some conditions might be perceived to be healthy by one person and unhealthy by another. The same principle is applied when evaluating the quality of life. Therefore, the health concept depends on such factors as physical, intellectual, and emotional. Finally, the environment meta paradigm encompasses not only external but also internal conditions. Hence, this concept is made up of various factors that include the immune system, socio-economic status, experience, genetics, ecology, and some others.
I think that all these definitions might vary, depending on a person who defines the concepts. Also, the four concepts are deeply interrelated and interdependent. However, as these metaparadigms drastically affect the behaviors of nurses, it is very important to take them into consideration when delivering care to patients. Patients are complex systems that change due to various external and internal factors. The concepts assist nurses in detecting such changes and addressing new challenges.
Nursing Theories
Nursing theory is a system that consists of different ideas that describe a provisional and systematic perception of a phenomenon. This theory is based on the experiences of various clinicians related to health care. There are several nursing theories that were developed at different times. One of the most compatible with my personal nursing philosophy theories is called Need Theory. It was designed by Virginia Henderson (“Virginia A. Henderson,” n.d.). She underlined the importance of a patient’s independence as it improved healing processes. She defined nursing, demonstrating differences between nursing and medicine. According to her theory, the main function of a nurse is to help a patient regardless of the severity of their conditions in activities that are necessary for their health and of which they approve. Therefore, the patient should gain their independence as soon as possible. It requires such characteristics as compassion and confidence.
Another theory was developed by Martha Rogers. She was a practicing nurse, and she completed her program at John Hopkins University. Her theory is well-known and called Unitary Human Beings (“Martha Elizabeth Rogers,” n.d.). The main aspect of this theory is the promotion of interaction between the patient and the environment in order to enhance collaboration and fully utilize the health potential.
Finally, the third theory that is compatible with my personal philosophy is called the System Model. This model emphasizes the importance of the reaction of a patient to the existing environmental irritants (Ahmadi & Sadeghi, 2017). The model describes several levels of preventive measures that are aimed at maintaining the patient’s health conditions. This theory states that stress is one of the most negative factors that contribute to poor health care. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on stress prevention methods, as well.
Compatibility
The described above theories are completely compatible with my personal nursing philosophy. I believe that the key role of a nurse is to provide all necessary assistance in order to enhance recovery processes of a patient because their loss of independence as a result of different medical conditions is a serious psychological burden. The most appealing aspect of the Unitary Human Beings theory is the importance of the mutual interdependence between a patient and nurse. I believe that it is a very important factor that considerably contributes to the quality of health care. The System Model is important for me because stress prevention methods are highly necessary in nursing. Due to various responsibilities, nurses often struggle with serious anxiety and stress that worsen their own health. My personal nursing philosophy focuses on several important factors. These are the recipient of nursing care, interaction with a patient, and healthy environment. Therefore, these theories complement my personal nursing philosophy.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a personal philosophy of nursing is a complicated system that is made up of various individual views and perceptions. This system is absolutely subjective as it is based on personal experience and knowledge. However, there are four nursing metaparadigm concepts that help a nurse to cope with challenges that occur in medical settings. These are environment, health, person, and nursing. Although these concepts can be defined differently by different specialists, they cover the main aspects of a high-quality healthcare service and enhance its effectiveness. Hence, these metaparadigms are highly important for all practicing nurses.
References
Ahmadi, Z., & Sadeghi, T. (2017). Application of the Betty Neuman systems model in the nursing care of patients/clients with multiple sclerosis. Multiple Sclerosis Journal–Experimental, Translational and Clinical, 3(3), 1-8.
Dupree, D. (2017). Four basic metaparadigm concepts in nursing. Web.
Martha Elizabeth Rogers (1914-1994) 1996 Inductee. (n.d.). Web.
Virginia A. Henderson (1897-1996) 1996 Inductee. (n.d.). Web.