Nursing theory is at the center of nursing practice. There are so many theories that have been developed based on scientific evidence and appropriate data. They facilitate the creation of different frameworks while giving the healthcare industry strategies and approaches to take care of patients’ needs. You should know that these theories have a massive role to play and are not just some big ideas. They help ensure that the nursing practice is headed in the right direction in the evolving world of healthcare.
On the other hand, you can view nursing theories as patterns that allow direct thinking about nursing. Before a nurse takes care of any patient, they are guided by some theory they read in their education.
Nursing theories play a massive role, and one of the reasons nurses have to study them is that it improves their practice. It all translates to better health and quality of life for all patients that need care. Try to learn the fundamentals of nursing to understand why these theories are so essential. Meanwhile, the following is their importance in nursing education:
#1 Helpful to nurses in understanding their purpose and the role they should play
The healthcare industry can be pretty complicated, and one can quickly lose track of their responsibilities. Thankfully, nurses can benefit significantly from nursing theories. They outline their role while helping them understand their purpose and what is required of them.
In an area of expertise where there is no margin for error, nurses must have the proper education to guide them on making the right decision for their patients.
#2 Facilitates knowledge development
Nursing education is supposed to provide knowledge to anyone interested in a registered nurse career, and the theories involved have a massive role to play. They are the patterns that dictate the direct thinking about nursing and determine the action the nurse takes when dispatching healthcare to patients. Knowledge development only makes them better at what they do over time in their careers.
#3 Promoting evidence-based research
Most nurses may not realize it, but they use nursing theories nearly every day. They are the guiding light to evidence-based research, which allows best practices and policies within the healthcare setting. They are responsible for keeping the patients safe without compromising their care.
#4 Allows creating a positive influence on the well-being of the patients
Nursing theories play a massive role in making the whole healthcare setting as effective as possible. The theories are developed in such a way that they allow every nurse to be as knowledgeable as possible with an excellent work ethic that goes beyond bedside care.
When the practice is guided with nursing theories, everything is done perfectly, and care is not compromised, which is what the nursing profession needs over the coming years.
#5 Helps distinguish what forms the basis of the nursing practice
Nursing theories describe nursing wholly. Providing information about the practice in general leads to improved patient care and better communication between the nurses and highly qualified professionals. You end up with some of the best-registered nurses in practice who can dispatch the care needed by patients.
#6 Providing nurses with a sense of identity
Nurses must know and understand what role they have to play in healthcare, and nursing theories give them that identity they can use in practice. In addition, they help them understand how to maneuver while knowing what they should and should not do.
#7 They are a foundation of the nursing practice
Nursing education is quite diverse, and that is why nursing theories are pretty instrumental. They lay the foundation of the whole journey from when a nurse decides to follow this career path. The proper knowledge from the start molds every practitioner into becoming a reputable nurse.
Nursing theories play a significant role in any level of nursing education. For any nurse who would like to advance their career, they should be ready to pursue more complex nursing theories under accredited nursing school to improve the quality of care.
If you aspire to become a registered nurse, be ready to learn and apply nursing theories to your practice. This has a significant impact on the future of nursing and should not be taken lightly. Nursing theories act as a bedrock to all nursing practices, whether inpatient care or community health nursing.
