Nursing Practice Gap - Essay Example

?Analysis Paper Inserts His/Her Inserts Grade Inserts (05 06, Outline Introduction 2. Nursing Practice Gap. 2.1. Area of nursing that lacks theoretical support 2.2. Current theory development 2.3. Rationale for theory and how theory can advance nursing practice 3. Conclusion Nursing Practice Gap 1. Introduction. Developments in nursing profession have caused demands on nursing profession to facilitate nursing education and integrate it with practice. However, attempts to develop have been faced with the challenge caused by the gap between theory and practice. What the students learn is viewed as ideal and not the reality of what happens in healthcare. Therefore, there is need to analyze the gap and reconcile theory with practice for advanced nursing practice. This paper analyses an area of nursing practice with a gap between theory and practice. it will talk about an area that lack of theoretical support, theory developments and rationale for theory. 2. Nursing Practice Gap. Theory presents information that form a basis for understanding nursing, therefore, information offered in the classroom is a representation of what happens in practice as Walker and Avant (2005, p. 9) note. Nursing students often find themselves in challenging situations where they have to find solutions in practice after successfully engaging in theoretical studies. 2.1. Area of nursing that lacks theoretical support. Caring theory is an area that provides understanding to the gap between theory and practice. According to the caring theory nurses can show care by upholding the well being of a patient. The nurse will administer drugs and participate in prevention of infections. The challenge lies in the actions of the nurse, the process of care and meeting expectations of the patient. Theory of care does not adequately cover the measure of care a nurse can poses given a specific situation. The capacity of care may vary from one individual to another. Commitment of the nurse in their relationship with the patient for care is not adequately supported. Additionally, a complimentary environment for giving care is required and not often clearly emphasized in the theory. Caring actions are overlooked and not given priority in the theory as it is in practice. Caring actions include enabling, assisting, staying together, recognizing and beliefs of the patient. In practice, nurses realize that caring actions have consequences. Although the nurse may give out, the intended outcome may not be realized. The conditions for giving care can be complicated. Patients and their relatives need care, which is shown through professionalism, leadership and care delivery. Care may be hindered by problems emanating from either the organization, nurse or the patient. The caring theory may require the nurse to spend time with the patient to know how they are coping with the illness. This may not be practical because the nurse must find a balance between their assigned tasks. 2.2. Current theory development. In order to improve giving care to patients in the hospital, unique and specific actions have been proposed as the appropriate ways of giving care. Actions that would make the patient obtain and believe in care have been preferred. The actions would translate theory into practice. According to Tonges and Ray (2011, p. 376), developments in care theory propounds that nurses participate in maintaining the faith or belief of the patient to aid in the transition of their well being. The nurse strives to know and understand issues and events happening that could affect the well being of the patient. Taking care of a patient has incorporated the emotional support to the patient and relatives. In an attempt to close the gap between caring theory and practice, nurses practice doing for others what they would like done to them. Furthermore, there are situations where giving care in person can be a challenge; hence, it is recommended that the nurse facilitates for others so that they can take care of self and take care of others. Enabling others be able to take care adds value to the care given. When the nurse pays attention to the specific actions, they are able to achieve the objective of care, which is to facilitate the well being of a patient. Taking care is a behavior that is practiced with an aim of achieving several objectives. This includes relief from pain, comfortable positioning, assistance in correct use of toileting, support to obtain things that the patients need (such as food, water, medication and warm clothing), support with ventilation and cleanliness of the room, safety and assistance to obtain privacy. Frequent and regular interaction ensures that the nurse is available and well equipped to handle emerging issues. Use of appropriate words that smooth the progress of work among professionals and patient is recommended. Communication can be designed to meet the particular needs of the patient with the correct use of words. Consequently, patients will have adequate information to participate in their own care (Naknikian, 2012, p, 48). Among the developments that have been adapted is the policy to talk to patients and that nurses cannot pass or ignore a call from the patient. The nurse is required to be available and assist upon request. Similarly, other services for support are monitored. These services include delivering meals at the right time and preferred temperature. The nurses can begin a conversation by speaking well of on their card and photographs. When addressing complains from patients should offer an apology. Then the nurse will gather information on the precedence. The blame apology does not accuse others, shows concern for the patient and gives assurance of better services. The nurse should be a good listener. They should be willing to apologize even though the department responsible is different. Action is taken to gain the confidence of the patient (Coffey 2010, p. 322). Frequent visits have been found to cause improvement in the care of skin. Caring behaviors presented by the nurse have been associated with improved outcome in care. Accordingly, nursing with recommended caring experience have identified job satisfaction and motivation as an outcome of the caring practice. However, caring practice increased responsibility on the nurse and is therefore a challenge for the nurse to be efficient in all areas. 2.3. Rationale for theory and how theory can advance nursing practice. The rationale for nursing theory is that theory enables nurses develop advanced theory for future. Advanced theory will ensure that recommendations are followed to improve professional nursing practice. Theory will permit the nurses apply practical experiences when giving care to patients. The use of knowledge and reasoning gives the nurse an advantage in giving the most appropriate care for a particular patient with specific needs (Sussman et al, 2010, p. 9). Nursing theory enables the nurse understands the needs of a patient and gives effective and efficient care to patients. Theory gives detail of experiences and notable observations that facilitates learning experience for nursing students (Fawcett, 2013, p. 5). In addition, theory consists of nursing concepts that is useful in the delivery of care. Theory is derived from research which tests nursing practices and their application. Research is wealthy in giving alternative strategies for giving care. Research is a tool used to improve the quality of care using practical ways. Moreover, nursing theory deals with problems identified in the nursing practice and questions that are raised from practice. Theory attempts to explain why issues originate from specific settings. Theory will provide answers for nursing experiences. Theory educates nurses on the best practice to intervene in a patient’s healthcare. Theory is an important component that establishes a profession and discipline. Theory will gather and give information of patients for assessment. It will enable the healthcare plan the course of action to care for the patient. Implementation and evaluation of a patient for the desired outcome is possible since theory will be available for consultation. Theory provides a basis for further studies. Although the application of theory may not be entirely similar to the real situation in the nursing situation, nursing theory provides a framework for development of the nursing discipline. Theory can be derived from practice so that the gap between theory and practice is reconciled. Dougherty and Conway (2008, p. 2319) add that, theory can advance nursing practice if the nurses are capable of interpreting theory into practice. Nurses can develop a practice where they can apply research findings from evidence based research. Evidence based research ensures that theory is developed from the observations and findings obtained from nursing practice. Caring theory can be advanced if nurses using their understanding in healthcare delivery will contribute to research and participate in discovery of new ways of giving care to patients. The nurses should be able to translate and relate new developments in research. Application of advanced methods of caring for patients will lead to quality care. 3. Conclusion. An area that lack theoretical support is caring theory. Theoretical framework for care does not merge with what is practiced. Issues such as commitment, capacity and environment are not adequately supported in theory. Developments on the theory of care recommend specific ways that nurses can give care. The nurse can maintain the faith of patient, pay attention to patients concerns, communicate, listen, attend to all calls, and ensure support services are in order and address all complains. Nursing theory is informative for students. Nursing practice can be improved if nurses translate theory into practice. Moreover, evidence based research is useful in bridging the gap between theory and practice. Reference List Coffey, A. (2010) Perceptions of training for care attendants employed in the care of older people. Journal of Nursing Management, 12, 5, 322-32. Dougherty, D., and Conway, P. (2008). The ‘3T’s’road map to transform US healthcare: the ‘how’ of high quality healthcare. Journal of Nursing Administration, 299, 19, 2319-2321. Fawcett, J. (2013). Contemporary nursing knowledge: Analysis and evaluation of nursing models and theories. Philadelphia, PA: F A Davis Co. Miller, A. (2010). The relationship between nursing theory and nursing practice. Journal of Nursing Administratio, 10, 5, 417-424. Naknikian, E. et al (2012) Nursing assistant training and education: what’s missing? Nursing Homes; Long Term Care Management Magazine; 51, 6, 48-51. Sussman, S., Valente, T., and Rohrbach, L. (2010). Translation in Health professions: Converting science into actions. Evaluation and the Health professions, 29, 1, 7-32. Tonges, M., and Ray, C. J. (2011). Translating Caring Theory into Practice. Journal of Nursing Administration, 41, 9, 374-381. Walker, L. O., and Avant, K. C. (2005). Strategies for theory construction in nursing. Upper Sandle, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Read More