Nursing Theories and Models

Nursing Theories

• A nursing model is a conceptual framework that outlines the structure and organization of nursing practice, providing a systematic approach to understanding and delivering nursing care.
• A nursing theory is a systematic explanation or framework that describes, predicts, and prescribes phenomena related to nursing practice, education, and research.

Concept of Nursing, Health, and Environment

• Nursing is the profession and practice of providing holistic care to individuals, families, groups, and communities, encompassing assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, and evaluation of care to promote health and well-being.
• Health represents the overall well-being of the person, including physical, mental, emotional, and social dimensions, and is dynamic and influenced by various factors.
• Environment includes external factors surrounding the person that affect their health, such as physical, social, cultural, economic, and political influences.

Components of Nursing Models

• Conceptual structure: portrays the conceptual structure and organization of nursing practice.
• Visualization tool: helps in visualizing and representing complex relationships and interactions among and between nursing key concepts.
• Application in nursing: guides nurses in assessing patient needs, planning interventions, implementing care, and evaluating outcomes.

Roles of Nursing Theories

Clinical Practice

• Provide a framework for nurses to understand the relationship between the patient, environment, health, and nursing care.
• Guide the nursing care to improve the patient outcome.

Nursing Education

• Facilitate educators in preparing students for clinical practice and professional roles.
• Nurture critical thinking and decision-making skills among students to enable them to apply theoretical knowledge.

Nursing Research

• Offer researchers a theoretical framework for understanding and explaining nursing phenomena, guiding research questions and hypotheses.
• Help researchers select appropriate methodologies, data collection techniques, and analytical approaches for their research.
• Inform practice implications, demonstrating the effectiveness of nursing interventions and highlighting areas for improvement, contributing to the enhancement of patient care and the promotion of health outcomes.