Elementarily, the whole of the nursing practice is hinged on particular nursing theories. The theories make nursing a professional discipline. The theories offer both guidance and direction for the structuring of nursing research, education as well as practice. They guide the appraisal, intervention, as well as assessment, of the care offered by nurses. They offer justifications for the gathering of valid and reliable data regarding clients’ health statuses. Notably, such data is important in ensuring effectual decision-formulation and decision-implementation (Alligood, 2014). They assist in the establishment of criteria for determining nursing care quality and building universal nursing terminologies that are used in engaging other healthcare providers or professionals. Nursing theories, including the Environmental Adaptation Theory that Florence Nightingale developed and the Nursing Needs Theory that Virginia Henderson developed, help in enhancing nursing practice’s autonomy as they define the practice’s autonomous functions (Anderson & McFarlane, 2015). This essay explores the similarities, as well as differences, between the Environmental Adaptation Theory and the Nursing Need Theory.
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Nightingale’s Environmental Adaptation Theory
Nightingale, who developed the Environmental Adaptation Theory, was rather instrumental in shaping nursing as a professional practice and encouraging women to take up nursing as own career (Chinn & Kramer, 2015; Husted, Husted, Scotto & Wolf, 2015). She promoted nursing education as she persisted in her efforts to enhance people’s wellbeing and health. She was the foremost person to come up with a nursing theory, the Environmental Adaptation Theory (Anderson & McFarlane, 2015). The theory is hinged on several assumptions, including that individuals are capable of attaining perfection, the universal runs on natural laws, the nursing practice is a definite calling, the practice is a science and art, and nursing is attained via environmental alteration or adjustment. As well, the theory is hinged on the suppositions that nursing needs a particular educational foundation and that nursing is separate from medicine (Alligood, 2014).
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The principal canons, or concepts, of the Environmental Adaptation Theory, include that the wellbeing and health of a person are assured by environments that are warm and ventilated, free from noise, clean, and healthy. The environment should be defined by chattering advises along with hope (Parker & Smith, 2010). Besides, the Environmental Adaptation Theory is hinged on four paradigms: the environment, the nursing process, health, and the person. The nursing process is distinct from medical processes and is aimed at placing the person, the patient, in a condition that allows nature to act most excellently or adequately. The nursing process is the set of activities that are geared towards promoting health in caregiving milieus. A person is deemed as having health when he or she is well and capable of utilizing all own power. Difficult and poor environments are seen as occasioning disease and poor health (Anderson & McFarlane, 2015).
Nursing Need Theory By Henderson
The Nursing Need Theory was characterized by Henderson as a concept rather than a theory when she developed it. Henderson emphasized the significance of bolstering the autonomy of nurses’ clients so as to hasten progress following hospitalization. She viewed nurses as critical in helping the clients to regain their autonomy during, as well as after, hospitalization regarding how they perform activities that influence own recovery or health. She classified the activities, or tasks, into 14 elements in line with the human needs continuum (Parker & Smith, 2010). She defined the role of nurses as executing particular activities for the clients, assisting the clients in executing particular activities, and working with the clients in executing particular activities. She viewed the role as important in assisting the clients to regain their autonomy.
The Nursing Need Theory is hinged on the 14 elements, or components, as noted earlier. The components include breathing normally, drinking along with eating sufficiently, getting rid of body wastes, maintaining along with moving favorable postures, sleeping along with resting, and selecting appropriate clothes (Anderson & McFarlane, 2015; Parker & Smith, 2010). Other components include maintaining normal body temperature, ensuring body hygiene and protecting integument, steering clear of environmental dangers, communicating appropriately when expressing opinions, worshiping in line with own faith, and working in ways that occasion a sense of attainment. Other components include playing or partaking in diverse recreation activities, and learning, satisfying, or discovering the inquisitiveness that leads to standard health and development, using the extant health facilities (Parker & Smith, 2010).
The Nursing Need Theory is hinged on diverse assumptions. First, it is hinged on the supposition that nursing professionals offer care to their clients until the clients can take care of themselves autonomously. Second, the theory is hinged on the assumption that nurses serve willingly and are devoted to their clients always. Third, the theory is hinged founded on the supposition that nurses ought to have the requisite university-level training in sciences as well as arts.
Besides, the Nursing Need Theory is based on varied principal concepts: the person, the environment, the nursing process, and health. As noted earlier, the nursing process is distinct from medical processes and is aimed at placing the person, the patient, in a condition that allows him or her regain own autonomy as quick as possible supporting the person to regain the autonomy in caregiving milieus. A person is deemed as having health when he or she is autonomously caring for himself or herself. Difficult and poor environments are seen as impeding the persons’ progress towards regaining autonomy.
Similarities Between Environmental Adaptation Theory and the Nursing Need Theory
The Environmental Adaptation Theory and the Nursing Need Theory have several similarities as well as differences. The similarities include that they are based on the same concepts: the person, the environment, the nursing process, and health. Another similarity is that they both speak to manipulation (Parker & Smith, 2010). The Nursing Need Theory has manipulation as one of its principal paradigms although it is not defined explicitly. Even then, Henderson viewed client manipulation as important in helping patients with tasks, or activities, that support, as well as promote health, improve recovery, and offer peaceful death. According to the theory, nurses ought to examine the extant resources in caregiving environments when their clients are capable of exploring the resources. The nurses ought to utilize the clients’ hands, heads, and hearts in efforts aimed at optimizing the clients’ functions and gaining in-depth appreciation of the clients’ needs. viewed nurses as having a duty to manipulate caregiving environments accordingly (Anderson & McFarlane, 2015; Parker & Smith, 2010). She was convinced that such environments can affect the health of nurses’ clients adversely if they are not manipulated appropriately.
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Differences Between Environmental Adaptation Theory and the Nursing Need Theory
As noted earlier, the differences include that the Environmental Adaptation Theory and the Nursing Need Theory are hinged on different elements or components. As noted earlier, the latter is 14 elements, or components, which include breathing normally, drinking along with eating sufficiently, getting rid of body wastes, maintaining along with moving favorable postures, sleeping along with resting, selecting appropriate clothes, maintaining normal body temperature, ensuring body hygiene and protecting integument, steering clear of environmental dangers, communicating appropriately when expressing opinions, worshiping in line with own faith, working in ways that occasion a sense of attainment, playing or partaking in diverse recreation activities, and learning, satisfying, or discovering the inquisitiveness that leads to standard health and development, using the extant health facilities (Johnson & Webber, 2015). The former is based on components such as ensuring that the environments are warm and ventilated, free from noise, clean, and healthy; helping the clients sleep, and relieving the clients’ anxieties.
Besides, as noted earlier, the Environmental Adaptation Theory and the Nursing Need Theory are based on dissimilar assumptions. The former is based on the suppositions that individuals are capable of attaining perfection, the universal runs on natural laws, the nursing practice is a definite calling, the practice is a science and an art, nursing is attained via environmental alteration or adjustment, nursing needs a particular educational foundation, and nursing is separate from medicine (Smith & Parker, 2015). The latter is based on the supposition that nursing professionals offer care to their clients until the clients can take care of themselves autonomously, nurses serve willingly and are devoted to their clients always, and nurses ought to have the requisite university-level training in sciences as well as arts (Anderson & McFarlane, 2015).
By and large, the Nursing Need Theory is closely related to the Environmental Adaptation Theory. As well, the Descriptive Theory of Caring, which Dr. Watson developed, is closely related to the Environmental Adaptation Theory and the Nursing Need Theory. The theory by Dr. Watson based on principal concepts that include the person, the nursing process, and health (Anderson & McFarlane, 2015). Dr. Watson and Henderson drew some elements of the theories they developed from Nightingale’s philosophy and psychology works. The 21 Nursing Problem theory, which Faye Abdellah developed, is closely related to the Nursing Need Theory and the Environmental Adaptation Theory given that the three are patient-centered rather than being disease-centered (Alligood, 2014).
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