Nursing Should Not Borrow Theories

Nursing is not only a science but also an art. According to Voldbjerg et al. (2018), nursing theories are important in nursing practice, nursing education and nursing research. While behavioral learning theories are, for instance, borrowed from education theories, this is critical in nursing as well. In reality, the education discipline presents a framework for understanding what is borrowed and further developed to determine how learning can be used in nursing practice. Implicitly, borrowing theories from other disciplines is integral in guiding nursing researchers to choose best research technique for a specific theoretical scenario in nursing practice. It is not only unfounded and ill-informed to suggest that nurses should not borrow theories from other disciplines but also undermines the importance of theories in advancing clinical outcomes.

Essentially, the purpose of nursing is to provide care to improve population health through evidence-based nursing interventions and knowledge from other disciplines. For example, two patients with similar clinical symptoms and treatment can have different results. Hence, in such a case, nurses can use theories from other disciplines such as physics, sociology, and medicine to expand understanding of evidence-based practice in patient care. Using theories lead to improved patient outcomes by allowing the creation of individualized treatment plan.

However, the success of borrowing theories requires a multidisciplinary team to provide unique perspectives and practical insights.  The team can share holistic view of patients and take into account possibilities based on patient’s health status. Furthermore, borrowing theories is associated with reduced medical errors. Even though it might take time to develop techniques when using borrowed theories, the multidisciplinary healthcare team can collaborate to enhance patient care and outcomes. Again, borrowing theories from other disciplines augments nursing knowledge while fostering systematic practice, which makes nursing practice coordinated, purposeful and less fragmented (Jensen, 2019).

References

Jensen, K. T. (2019). Nursing research: A marriage of theoretical influences. Nursing Open, 6(3), 1205-1217. https://doi.org/10.1002/nop2.320

Voldbjerg, S., Laugesen, B., Bahnsen, I. B., Jørgensen, L., Sørensen, I. M., Grønkjaer, M., &       Sørensen, E. E. (2018). Integrating the fundamentals of care framework in baccalaureate    nursing education: An example from a Nursing School in Denmark. Journal of Clinical        Nursing, 27(11-12), 2506-2515.https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.14354

By admin in Blog on November 3, 2022