Introduction to
Nursing Theory
What is Nursing Theory?
- define, describe, predict and explain
the phenomenon of nursing.
The word nurse is derived from the
Anglo-French nurice and the Latin
nutrica, both of which mean nourish.
History of Nursing
1853 to 1856 – Florence Nightingale served in the Crimean War and set
up a holistic system of nursing.
1859 – Notes On Nursing by Florence Nightingale was published. It was
one of the first nursing manuals ever written.
1860 – The Florence Nightingale School of Nursing was opened in St.
Tomas Hospital in London. Mark as the birth of modern nursing.
Mid-1800’s – Nightingale recognized the unique focus of nursing and
declared nursing knowledge as a distinct from medical knowledge.
1950’s – Development of nursing knowledge as a guide in nursing
practice.
1960’s-1980’s - Nursing as a Science to Nursing as a Profession
- Period of rapid growth for associate nursing programs.
History of Nursing
1900’s, 2000’s - 2008 - Consensus Model for APRN Regulation:
Licensure, Accreditation, Certification & Education
2010 – The Institute for the Future of Nursing released
recommendations for improved health care. (The Future of Nursing
advocated for the removal of limits on nurses’ scope of practice.)
2015: OSHA Issues Guidelines to Improve Nurse Safety
2020 and Beyond: COVID Transforms Nursing as We Know It
Historical Eras of Nursing
Historical Era Emphasis
Curriculum era Courses included in nursing program
Research era Role of nurses and what to research
Graduate era Carving out a role in health care for master’s
program
Theory era Doctoral education flourished with
additional nursing theories
Theory utilization era Balanced between research and practice for
knowledge development.
Significance of Nursing Theory
Significance for the Discipline
Discipline – a specific to academia and refers to branch of education, a department of learning, or a
domain of knowledge.
Significance of theory for nursing as a discipline:
1. University baccalaureate programs proliferated, masters programs in nursing were developed, and the
curricula began to be standardized through the accreditation process.
2. Attention to the importance of nursing conceptualizations for the research process and the role of a
conceptual framework in the purpose and design of research production of science and nursing
theoretical works also began to publish.
3. Works began to be recognize for their theoretical nature, such as Henderson, Nightingale and etc.
4. New nursing doctoral programs were beginning to open and they reopened the discussion of the nature
of nursing science. This becomes the first classic reference for nursing as discipline.
Significance of Nursing Theory
Significance for the Profession
Profession - refers to a specialized field of practice founded on the theoretical structure of the science or
knowledge of that discipline and accompanying practice abilities.
Bixler and Bixler published a set of criteria tailored to nursing in the American Journal of Nursing in 1959.
They stated that a profession:
Utilizes in its practice a well-defined and well-organized body of specialized knowledge that is on the
intellectual level of the higher learning.
Constantly enlarges the body of knowledge it uses and improves its techniques of education and
service by the use of the scientific method.
Entrusts the education of its practitioners to institution of higher education.
Applies its body of knowledge in practical services that are vital to human and social welfare.
Functions autonomously in the formulation of professional policy and in the control of professional
activity thereby.
Attracts individuals of intellectual and personal qualities who exalt service above personal gain and who
recognizes their chosen occupation as a life work.
Strives to compensate its practitioners by providing freedom of action, opportunity for continuous
professional growth and economic security.
NURSING THEORETICAL WORKS;
Philosophies
· Florence Nightingale: Patient-Environment Interaction
· Ernestine Wiedenbach: Art of Nursing
· Virginia Henderson: The 14 Basic Human Needs
· Faye Glenn Abdella: The 21 Nursing Problems
· Lydia E. Hall: Care, Core and Cure Theory
Conceptual Models and Grand Theories
· Dorothea E. Orem: Self-care Deficit Theory
· Myra Estrin Levine: Wrote the “Introduction to Clinical Nursing”
· Martha Rogers: Key Concepts of Science of Unitary Human Being, and
Principles of Hemodynamic
· Dorothy E. Johnson: Behavioral System Model
· Sister Callista Roy: Adaptation Model
· Betty Neuman: Neuman's System Model
· Imogene King: Goal Attainment Theory
NURSING THEORETICAL WORKS;
Theories and Middle-Range Nursing Theories
· Hildegard E. Peplau: Interpersonal Relation in Nursing
· Ida Jean Orlando: Dynamic-Nurse Relationship
· Joyce Travelbee: Human to Human Relationship
