Task #1 Professional Nursing Practice
- Florence Nightingale- Environmental Theory and Model for Nursing Practice
Personal Cleanliness, Nursing s a divine calling to serve others, and the art of caring , cleanliness of rooms, walls , bed and bedding, balance diet, observing the patient and accurate recording information, monitor noise level and PROTECT MY PATIENTS FROM POSSIBLE HARM. I DO BELIEVE NUSING WAS MY CALLING when I first heard that phrase in my first nursing class about 20 years ago. When I touched my first patient during clinicals I knew it was for me. I remember going home and looking up Florence nightingale in my then textbook. I then knew I would practice, and her theory and model of nursing would guide me for the rest of my career. I had shared similar thoughts in my personal life while raising my three children I truly believe nursing is a calling, an art and a science. I share same goal and value, “I think one’s feelings waste themselves in words; they ought all to be distilled in actions which bring RESULTS” (Florence Nightingale). Ever since this calling to date I do my very best every day and don’t ever stop caring and hold to heart the calling I was blessed with. I always portray what I believe Nightingale would expect of a Nurse in this century. And set out to meet her goals and I hold onto many of her values and expectations she shared in her Model for Nursing Practice. It is true that a health environment heals as what Nightingale stated but the question now is how our environment would remain health amidst the negative effects of the progress of technology and industrialization.
Truth in life: External influences and conditions can prevent, suppress, or contribute to disease or death. Still holds true today: Caring for whole person requires integration, collaboration with medicine, environmental, family, and society. Environmental adaptation remains the basis of our holistic nursing care. I work in a 55-bed Emergency Department of a Level II Trauma Center. Pretty much all of nightingale’s theory is still applied and followed in the hospital. I have worked in about five different hospitals and all which Nightingales’ theory and nursing practice are present in the foundation of all. Hospitals strive to provide clean environments, from bedding, walls, ventilation, air and water. THE BASICS in todays world. They monitor noise and have signs posted asking everyone to whisper because people are healing, provide balance diets, and protect from possible harm, despite the numerous challenges myself and the hospital itself faces in this current century we do our best. Every Nurses Day for the past ten years my employer (Magnet Status and identifies her theoretical framework that guides nursing practice ) places a large bigger than life size cardboard Florence Nightingale images throughout the hospital and nursing units. I do think it is to remind us of her and her theory and all her accomplishments as a nurse. Nightingale made significant contributions to nursing. To this day, Nurses need to wash their own hands with friction as well as patients, still holds up to this day and is significantly important for saving lives in hospitals.
- Orem’s Self-Care Deficit Nursing Theory and PATRICIA Benner’s From Novice to Expert
Patricia Benner’s Contribution to Nursing Theory: From Novice to Expert Concept
Patricia Benner developed a concept known as “From Novice to Expert.” This concept explains that nurses develop skills and an understanding of patient care over time from a combination of a strong educational foundation and personal experiences.
Benner proposed that a nurse could gain knowledge and skills without actually learning a theory. She describes this as a nurse “knowing how” without “knowing that.” She further explains that the development of knowledge in fields such as nursing is made up of the extension of knowledge through research and understanding through clinical experience.
The theory identifies five levels of nursing experience: novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient, and expert.
A novice is a beginner with no experience. They are taught general rules to help perform tasks, and their rule-governed behavior is limited and inflexible. In other words, they are told what to do and simply follow instruction.
The advanced beginner shows acceptable performance and has gained prior experience in actual nursing situations. This helps the nurse recognize recurring meaningful components so that principles, based on those experiences, begin to formulate and then to guide actions.
This is how I learned and went about achieving my goal to work in an Emergency Department. First nursing job (2001) I did for six months Med-Surg and then six months float pool got sent to every unit except ER, concurrent with that time I worked 7 months at a psychiatric facility(pediatric,adolescent,acute adult psychosis). Then got my first ER job. Once there I observed and listened to expert co-workers and learned a wealth of knowledge of ER nursing foundation. Prior to my nursing employment and during my nursing school education I worked as an EMT on an ambulance for 4 years. There I worked alongside with several EMS agencies in assisting and transporting 911 patients. I believe all this experience I gained prior to my first ER job really helped me become confident and comfortable working in the ER because I had gained knowledge and experience in a multi-areas of nursing.
A proficient nurse perceives and understands situations as whole parts. He or she has a more holistic understanding of nursing, which improves decision-making. These nurses learn from experiences what to expect in certain situations, as well as how to modify plans as needed.
Expert nurses no longer rely on principles, rules, or guidelines to connect situations and determine actions. They have a deeper background of experience and an intuitive grasp of clinical situations. Their performances are fluid, flexible, and highly-proficient. Benner’s writings explain that nursing skills through experience are a prerequisite for becoming an expert nurse.
These different levels of skills show changes in the three aspects of skilled performance: movement from relying on abstract principles to using past experiences to guide actions; change in the learner’s perception of situations as whole parts rather than separate pieces; and passage from a detached observer to an involved performer, engaged in the situation rather than simply outside of it.
