Nursing Across Theories

Recently, a local hospital created a nursing patient care model to profile the facility’s approach to professional nursing practice. Early career and seasoned nurses described each component of the model in a video, including how central tenets of the model benefit patient care and ways the model facilitates meaningful connections with patients and other professionals.Nursing Across Theories Example

Nursing departments across the country are using a variety of engaging graphic representations to show patients, visitors, and colleagues what is important about how care is delivered. These models highlight aspects of care any nurse would be proud to name as guiding principles. However, while researchers have determined that many current professional practice models use nursing concepts (for example, shared governance and relationship-based care), an explicit underpinning in nursing theory is sometimes missing from professional nursing practice models.Nursing Across Theories Example

Omitting nursing theory from—or failing to highlight its foundational role in—professional nursing practice models diminishes nursing as a unique discipline. When science and theory do not appear to guide professional practices, we risk showcasing only the art of nursing and being seen as task agents who move through patient care checking boxes instead of improving the lives of patients.