Introduction: The Basic Four Metaparadigms
There are four metaparadigms that all nursing theories rely upon: the concept of patient, nurse or nursing, health, and environment. These notions are global theoretical foundations practitioners, researchers, and students rely upon in all their professional activities (Suliman et al., 2022). Despite their universality, these concepts are individualized depending on the setting in which they are applied. The literature utilizes these ideas to describe processes within the healthcare system, define a context for interactions within it, and explain the variety of phenomena in nursing (Suliman et al., 2022). There are significant differences in views on these foundational parts.
Each concept represents a range of notions adapted for each situation to fit their role in a global picture. For example, a patient can be seen as a person, a family, a social group, or a large denomination of people (Deliktas et al., 2019). In turn, a nurse is seen as someone who uses their knowledge to heal, care, support, and transform their patients. The target of these activities is one’s health, a concept that outlines an individual’s well-being, degree of comfort, and sense of being whole (Suliman et al., 2022). Every aspect is related to global and personal parts of the environment that affect healing interventions.
Brief Overview of the Chosen Nursing Theory
For this paper, Katharine Kolcaba’s theory of comfort has been selected to be analyzed. This model strives to provide an in-depth description of relief processes, their sources, nature, and paths to help nurses comprehend the benefits of their activities (Al-Aaraj et al., 2023). The theory’s importance lies in its alignment with the core nursing objectives. In turn, practitioners utilize this theory through measurement tools that assess patients’ comfort levels, allowing healthcare organizations to enhance the quality of care (Al-Aaraj et al., 2023). This approach strives to assist medical workers in their interactions with patients and, ultimately, help people find a suitable way to make others feel better within a particular situation.
Two Practice-Specific Concepts
Patient
The concepts of patient and environment will be reviewed in this segment since their importance connects numerous vital goals for nurses. The first idea refers to the target of care processes and interventions, which may or may not be represented by a single individual. The patient in nursing is a recipient or recipient of care whose health status is manipulated by healthcare personnel in pursuit of its improvement (Suliman et al., 2022).
Environment
The second concept is a crucial mechanism that ties the rest of the ideas to numerous other scientific fields. The environment in healthcare represents internal and external factors that affect the processes related to medical studies and systems (Al-Aaraj et al., 2023). However, due to the many possible influences, theories strive to limit this scope significantly.
One of the significant nursing objectives is to establish the best surroundings for the intended healing processes to operate at total capacity (Suliman et al., 2022). By keeping these two notions in mind, healthcare professionals ensure that their goals remain within the boundaries of their competence while also comprehending the overarching themes involved in one’s treatment.
Theorist’s Definition of the Concepts
Patient
Kolcaba’s descriptions of patients and their environment focus on the traditional understanding of nursing objectives. Within this model, the first idea is narrowed significantly to permit people to define the purpose of care activities and allow measurements on the fly. Since one’s comfort is subjective, it must be analyzed individually (Al-Aaraj et al., 2023).
Environment
The environment is paramount for one’s comfort, as disturbances often stem from external factors that nurses must be able to identify and remove. Kolcaba’s theory requires a thorough assessment of surroundings and a knowledge of how to manipulate them for one’s benefit (Al-Aaraj et al., 2023). As can be seen in the example of this model, the four metaparadigms lie at the core of all subjects in this field of study.
Application of the Concepts in Clinical Practice
In an intensive care unit (ICU) setting, the aforementioned notions are incorporated into nurses’ activities through continuous assessments of patients’ statuses and their environments’ suitability for the most optimal healing processes. Within this setting, nurses strive to alleviate patients’ pain to preserve their well-being until the most critical symptoms that may cause severe health damage are treated. Caring for people within this environment requires significant attention dedicated to assessing factors that affect one’s comfort. Simultaneously, medical workers are bound to remember the needs and specifics of each patient, considering numerous aspects, such as one’s spiritual beliefs, relatives and family, and other elements.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the four metaparadigms of nursing permeate all medical personnel’s activities and research, outlining the basis for care assessment, planning, and provision. For Kolcaba’s comfort theory, these ideas portray nurse-patient interactions in a healthcare setting, which lead to improved well-being through alleviating pain and suffering. For an ICU nurse, these concepts are especially crucial, as achieving immediate relief from adverse factors may be the reason behind one’s chance of survival.
References
Al-Aaraj, H., Alnawafleh, K. A., Al-Jabri, M. M., Almuhtadi, L. M., Mohammed, A. T., & Ghatasheh, A. A. (2023). Using Kolcaba’s comfort theory in nursing research: A critical analysis. HIV Nursing, 23(3), 1342-1346. Web.
Deliktas, A., Korukcu, O., Ydina, R., & Kabukcuoglu, K. (2019). Nursing students’ perceptions of nursing metaparadigms: A phenomenological study. Journal of Nursing Research, 27(5). Web.
Suliman, M., Sohail, M., Shaheen, M., & Rehman, U. U. (2022). A proposed philosophy of nursing in the light of nursing metatheory. Journal of Saidu Medical College, 12(2), 106-109. Web.
