Incorporating grand and middle range nursing theory in undergraduate curriculum

Nursing Theory:

The nursing field is a practice discipline where the learning of students incorporates the capability to apply theory during the provision of care to patients. However, the use of theory in nursing practice requires an understanding of the abstract and the mechanism of applying the abstract to practice. Therefore, the use of theory in nursing practice is not only a challenging but also appropriate experience in developing new nursing programs. One of the major goals of planning for a new undergraduate nursing program is to develop way with which the nursing students can establish care practices that focus on the human reaction to illness.

Since theory is an important aspect of educational programs in nursing, the new undergraduate nursing program will incorporate middle-range theory into the curriculum. Middle range theory can be described as a series of related ideas that are directed towards a restricted dimension of the reality of nursing (Smith & Liehr, 2008). The theories consist of concepts and proposed relationships among the ideas than can be revealed in a model. Generally, these theories are developed and flourish at the connection of practice and research in order to provide directions for daily practice and scholarly research.

The use of middle range theory in the new nursing program is mainly because of the usefulness of this theory in clinical intervention research with experimental designs (Peterson & Bredow, 2009, p.72). The middle range theory has constantly been used to teach graduate nursing students on the significance and usefulness of developing a focused and concrete nursing practice. Therefore, the theory will be significant in the curriculum because it will help in the establishment of new care models that guide daily practice in nursing through clinical intervention research. This implies that the inclusion of middle range theories into the curriculum is influenced by the direct link of the theories to research and practice.

Story Theory:

Story theory is one of the middle-range nursing theories that are included in the school curriculum to enhance students' experience. This theory describes a person's story as an internal human resource for making meaning. The main goal of the story nursing theory is to define and explain story as the basis for a nurse-to-individual health-promoting procedures. The theory is mainly applicable when a nurse seeks to understand what matters most to a person living with a particular health challenge. As the nurse collects a story regarding the health situation, it acts as information to clarify health issues and contribute to nursing knowledge (Carpenter, 2010, p.29).

The story theory can be applied to various educational areas in the nursing field because it seeks to contribute to nursing knowledge. One of the major educational areas where this theory is applicable is vocational nursing that not only requires academic work but also needs clinical experience. Vocational nursing is primarily based on theory and related clinical experience that develops knowledge, skills, and abilities that are necessary to provide care for all patients in the existing health care settings. The application of story theory in vocational nursing is on the premise of knowledge and skills that the nurse acquires through the story of a person living through a health challenge.