Unit 3.1
Nursing Theory in Curriculum
NLN Competency: IV
Objectives
- Learner describes two nursing theories for curricular framework
- Learner identifies how nursing theory relates to plan of care and nursing curriculum
- Learner integrates aspects of nursing theory across the nursing curriculum
Introduction
As a profession, nursing must provide theories that explain what nurses do. In the 1970’s nursing education integrated nursing theory into the nursing curriculum in response to accrediting agencies (Josephson, 2014). Nurses in the clinical arena and education began generating nursing theories to provide a conceptual framework for the art and science that forms nursing practice.
Relevant Theorists
Orem’s Theory of self-care is a nursing theory generated by Dorothea Orem. Dorothea Orem is a leading nurse theorist. The self-care deficit theory focuses on improving the person’s ability to function independently to improve health (Khademian et al., 2020). Orem’s Theory of self-care is the focus of much nursing research concerning outcomes. Studies such as the quality of life study in hypertensive patients cared for using the self-care theory conducted by Khademian (2020) show positive healthcare outcomes using the Orem nursing theory to provide patient care.
Jean Watson is a nursing theorist who developed the theory of caring. The theory focuses on a holistic view of the person and how nurses express the care. Watson’s theory has four major concepts: human beings, health, environment/society, and nursing. The human being is defined as
“…a valued person in and of him or herself to be cared for, respected, nurtured, and understood (Durgan & Okumus, 2017). The theory focuses on healing based on the human condition, human interaction, environmental and cultural factors that form the holistic lens to provide care.
The limitation of a nursing theory in the curriculum is that the framework for many of the curriculum standards are missing from the nursing theory. Nursing accreditation agencies such as Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) and Accreditation Commission in Education in Nursing (ACEN) have developed standards that measure the nursing program.
Conclusion
Other theories, such as learning theories, also guide nurse educators in developing sound nursing programs. Regardless of the framework used to organize the nursing curriculum, nurse educators find the nursing theory helpful to teach nursing clinical. The theory can guide the formation of care plans, patient teaching, and other aspects of patient care. Theories form frameworks to organize the teaching process and provide students with planned learning experiences that meet program goals and outcomes.
Resources
References
Durgun Ozan, Y., & Okumuş, H. (2017). Effects of Nursing Care Based on Watson’s Theory of Human Caring on Anxiety, Distress, And Coping, When Infertility Treatment Fails: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of caring sciences, 6(2), 95–109. https://doi.org/10.15171/jcs.2017.010
Khademian, Z., Kazemi Ara, F., & Gholamzadeh, S. (2020). The effect of self care education based on Orem’s nursing theory on quality of life and self-efficacy in patients with hypertension: A quasi-experimental study. International journal of community based nursing and midwifery, 8(2), 140–149. https://doi.org/10.30476/IJCBNM.2020.81690.0