¶ … Theory Description and Incorporation
It is important for nurses to have both clinical and personal skills when practicing their profession. The importance of creating and maintaining a disciplined schedule of hourly nurse rounds can be very productive in reducing falls, pressure ulcers and diminish call light use which ultimately leads to a rise in patient satisfaction. There is much evidence to support this argument and the Theory of Human Caring introduced by Jean Watson provides a solid rationale to base this model upon to support this hypothesis.
This comprehensive theory provides a personal approach that describes why nurses' personal care approach can be practically effective. The theory is based upon the idea that kindness and a loving approach within the clinical setting can be extremely effective in improving patient care quality. The idea of transpersonal relationships is also applied in this theory and provides a suitable basis of support for how the simple act of making nurses rounds implies a level of caring that aligns with this model's approach. Watson's theory ultimately aims to infuse "heart-centered" caring practice into the often stressful environment of hospitals and clinics.
To incorporate this theory into this project it is necessary to provide empirical evidence that supports the efficacy of this theory within documented literature. It is also necessary to demonstrate the link between the clinical practice of nurses' rounds and how they may be improved with simple caring gestures. The subjective nature of the theory can be addressed also by discussing some of the more emotional and humanistic issues that are often ignored when applied in clinical situations and environments.
References
Watson, M.J. (1988). New dimensions of human caring theory. Nursing science quarterly, 1(4), 175-181.
Watson, J., & Foster, R. (2003). The Attending Nurse Caring Model®: integrating theory, evidence and advanced caring -- healing therapeutics for transforming professional practice. Journal of clinical nursing, 12(3), 360-365.
