Caring According To Nursing Theories and Patients Lived Experiences

All patients are unique. Therefore, they experience various issues differently. Patients’ lived experiences refer to how a certain situation looks like from the patients’ perspective. It is vital for nurses to consider patients’ lived experiences to improve the quality of care they offer the patients. According to Rosemarie Rizzo Parse’s human becoming school of thought, humans are indivisible, unpredictable, everchanging. These conditions create a unique becoming. In addition, Parse claims that humans are the experts of their own health. Therefore, it is vital for nurses to consider the patients’ lived experienced when designing the care plans that would be used to treat the conditions facing the patient (Parker & Smith, 2015).

Jean Watson’s theory of human caring also acknowledges the importance of patients’ lived experiences. The theory claims that nursing values, knowledge, and practice of human caring are focused on the subjective inner healing processes and the experiences of an individual (Parker & Smith, 2015).  The theory acknowledges the importance of patients’ experiences in the healing process. Watson’s theory claims that nurses should use a unique caring-healing framework. The framework is referred to as carative factors. According to the theory, there are ten carative factors. These factors facilitate the healing process and the relationships that would not just affect the patient but also the nurse. The patient is the major focus of the carative factors. The factors put great emphasis on the patients’ lived experiences (Parker & Smith, 2015).

Anne Boykin and Savina O. Schoenhofer’s theory of nursing as caring assumes that all beings are caring. This has a significant impact on patient-nurse interactions. The caring nature of humans enables nurses to acknowledge the feelings of patients and develop caring plans that meet the needs of the patient. The theory asserts that nursing at its fullest sense does not occur if there is no loving relationship between the patient and the nurse. The loving relationship enables the patient and nurse to express self and recognize the other party as a caring person. The loving relationship enables the nurse to see past the emotions of the patient and “be with” the patient. This makes the nurse understand the patients’ lived experiences even better (Parker & Smith, 2015).

It is vital for nurses to ensure that they provide spiritual care to patients. Parse’s human becoming paradigm acknowledges that humans are everchanging. They move on with the possibilities of their hopes and dreams. This necessitates the nurse to provide spiritual care to the patient. Spiritual care is vital in the improvement of the patients’ quality of life. As such, it is vital in enabling the patients to change their health patterns, which ultimately helps in improving their well-being (Parker & Smith, 2015).

Jean Watson’s theory of human caring details the ten carative factors that are critical in nursing. Allowance for existential-phenomenological-spiritual forces is one of the carative factors. As such, the theory acknowledges the importance of spiritual care in improving the health outcomes of the patients (Parker & Smith, 2015).

Finally, Anne Boykin and Savina O. Schoenhofer’s theory of nursing as caring assumes that all humans are caring. The caring nature of nurses makes the nurse acknowledge the importance of spiritual care in healthcare plans. It enables the nurse to develop the “caring between,” which is ultimately vital in the improvement of the wellbeing of the patient (Parker & Smith, 2015).

Jean Watson’s theory of human caring aligns with my personal and professional values in practice. The theory acknowledges the fact that nursing is more than just a job. It is a life-giving and life receiving career that leads to perpetual growth and learning. As a nurse, one is highly fulfilled if the efforts to improve the wellbeing of a patient have a positive impact on the patient.

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