Nurse Staffing Crisis: Applying Watson and Benner Theory
This paper applies Jean Watson's Human Caring Theory and Patricia Benner's Skill Acquisition Model to the persistent problem of nursing shortage in the United States. It begins by outlining the scope of the staffing crisis, noting its effects on nurse burnout, patient outcomes, and care quality. The paper traces the theoretical origins of both frameworks, reviews their prior use in education and clinical research, and then demonstrates how combining them can guide nurse leaders toward ethical, caring, and skill-informed solutions. It concludes by showing how individual nursing practitioners can incorporate these theories into daily practice to improve staffing, retention, and the nurse-patient relationship.
- Introduction: Overview of nursing theory applied to staffing
- A Brief Summary of the Problem: Scope and consequences of nursing shortage
- The Applicable Middle-Range Theories: Watson and Benner selected to address shortage
- Origins of the Theories: Historical development of both frameworks
- Previous Applications of the Theories: Prior research outcomes using these theories
- Applying the Theories to Nursing Shortage: Combined frameworks guide staffing interventions
- Modifying Practice by Incorporating Theory: Personal practice changes using Watson and Benner
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What makes this paper effective
- It pairs two complementary theoretical frameworks — Watson's moral/caring foundation and Benner's developmental skill model — to attack a single practical problem from multiple angles.
- The paper grounds abstract theory in concrete practice by describing specific interventions a nurse leader could implement, such as enforcing healthy work policies and using Benner's five stages to identify mentors.
- The inclusion of an empirical example (the Turkish cancer-patient study) adds evidence-based credibility to the theoretical claims.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates theory application, a foundational nursing-education skill in which a student selects established theoretical frameworks and shows precisely how each framework's concepts map onto a real practice problem. Rather than describing the theories in isolation, the author links each concept directly to a proposed intervention, modeling how practitioners move from abstract principles to actionable change.
Structure breakdown
The paper follows a logical five-part arc: (1) problem identification, (2) theory selection and rationale, (3) theoretical origins, (4) evidence of prior effectiveness, and (5) proposed application to practice. The first-person conclusion grounds the academic discussion in the author's own clinical role, tying theory back to personal professional development — a common and effective closing move in reflective nursing papers.
Introduction
Nursing theories are important in shaping how practitioners discharge their duties and make decisions related to service delivery in healthcare. This paper explores and applies middle-range theory to an identified problem in nursing, demonstrating how theory can be used to solve nursing challenges — particularly in the management of nursing care services. Specifically, Jean Watson's Human Caring Theory and Patricia Benner's Skill Acquisition Model are applied to examine and address the problem of nursing shortage, illustrating the benefits of grounding practice decisions in theoretical frameworks.
A Brief Summary of the Problem
Nursing shortage is a common problem in many nations, and the United States suffers from the same challenge. Retired nurses have sometimes been called upon to cover gaps in various health facilities (Grant, 2016). The shortage is characterized by too few nursing staff who are forced to work extra hours to fill vacant positions. The literature on this topic indicates that adequate nursing staff leads to higher quality care for patients (Kritek & Hickey, 2011). However, a lack of adequate nurses adversely affects patient outcomes and satisfaction.
The nursing shortage does not only concern raw numbers; many nurses are lost because of injuries, burnout, and overwork. The problem extends to the effect on patient care and the nursing workforce when compassionate care is lacking, with consequences for both nurses and patients (Grant, 2016). Healthcare organizations have tried traditional methods such as retention plans and financially based strategies to address the issue, largely without success. Applying nursing theories to the identified problem can help generate insights and interventions that support nurses, improve care delivery, and improve patient outcomes.
References
Grant, R. (2016). The U.S. is running out of nurses. The Atlantic. Retrieved October 21, 2017, from https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/02/nursing-shortage/459741/
Kritek, P. B., & Hickey, M. (2011). Change leadership in nursing: How change occurs in a complex hospital system. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.
Schmidt, N. A., & Brown, J. M. (2015). Evidence-based practice for nurses: Appraisal and application of research. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Smith, M. J., & Liehr, P. R. (2014). Middle range theory for nursing. New York: Springer.
Watson, J., & Watson, J. (2012). Human caring science: A theory of nursing. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
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