American Idol Nursing Theory Contest

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Table of Contents

The Contest Overview
The Judges
Theories and Theorists
Madeleine Leininger’s Trans-Cultural Nursing
Hildegard Peplau’s Interpersonal Relations Theory
Dorothea Orem Self-Care Nursing Theory
The Judge’s Overview of the Contestant
The Winner
Summary and Conclusion
References

The Contest Overview

Being one of the major events at the University of West Georgia nursing calendar, the American Idol Nursing Theory Contest was held this year with a view to come up with the best theorist based on the criteria set by the institution judges. This year’s competition attracted three judges who will be describing and selecting the best nursing theorist. The judges include Dr. Carol Wilson, Dr. O’Brian N., and Dr. Williamson. The three theories that will be examined by the judges comprise of Madeleine Leininger’s culture care theory, Hildegard Peplau’s theory of interpersonal relations, and Dorothea Orem’s nursing theory of self-care deficit.

The theories will be judged based on the criteria of their simplicity, clari,ty and clinical practice. The judges will be providing a brief overview of the theories including their conceptual framework, how the theories relate to the nursing practice, their philosophical background, their usefulness, and relevant assumptions. Each of the criteria has an individual range of scores in which they will be rated and the overall scores will be used to award the winning theory. Finally, the judges will explain the rationale of the final winner.

The Judges

This year’s contest has three judges, Dr. Carol Wilson, Dr. O’Brian N., and Dr. Williamson. Dr. Carol Wilson is a nursing professor at the University of West Georgia and has been lecturing nursing theory for over ten years. Similarly, Dr. O’Brian has experience in teaching and practicing nursing for over 15 years. At the University of West Georgia, Dr. O’Brian has been teaching nursing practice for over ten years. Dr. Williamson also has 25 years of experience in teaching nursing theory and application at the university. In addition, Dr. Williamson has over the years been a judge in the American Idol Nursing Theory Contest.

Theories and Theorists

As indicated before, the contestant in this year’s competition are Madeleine Leininger, Hildegard Peplau and Dorothea Orem. Madeleine Leininger culture care theory or trans-cultural nursing care theory is a known theory that has been widely applied in clinical nursing. The theory developed by Hildegard Peplau is known as the interpersonal theory while that developed by Dorothea Orem is called the self-care nursing theory. These theories will be judged according to the criteria of their applicability and usefulness. The winner will then be announced.

Madeleine Leininger’s Trans-Cultural Nursing

The trans-cultural nursing also known as cultural care theory is applied in both general practice areas as well as the specialty category (Basavanthappa, 2007). The Madeleine Leininger’s theory is today being studied as one of the nursing disciplines. According to this theory, the nurses have the task of recognizing the role culture plays in the health of the patient. While cultural background determines the type of care given to the patient as well as the patient’s health, the treatments that the patient get are also being determined by the patient’s culture (Leininger & McFarland, 2006). Moreover, this also theory considers the cultural background of the nurses.

In practice, nurses are supposed to take into consideration both the patients cultural background and that of themselves while providing care to the patient. The theory suggests that nurses must perform culturalogical assessment that evaluates the patient’s health depending on cultural condition (Leininger & McFarland, 2006). This appraisal is then applied in generating the nursing-care plan. Like the culturalogical health evaluation, the nursing care plan also considers the cultural setup of the patient.

Having the cultural background knowledge helps nurses to understand how to relate the patient’s culture and illness or suffering and how best they can provide care for the patients. Moreover, the knowledge enhances the nurse’s commitment towards providing care to the patient. The cultural knowledge enables the nurses to look at the patient holistically instead of the patient being considered merely as a set of warning signs of illness (Finkelman, & Kenner, 2010). Finally, the cultural knowledge enables the nurses to be open minded about the care and treatment they offer to the patients. In particular, the unconventional treatments such as religious-based treatments like anointing and spiritual reflection or meditation.

Hildegard Peplau’s Interpersonal Relations Theory

Hildegard Peplau’s interpersonal relations model was inspired by the relationship that exists between the nurses and the patients (Finkelman, & Kenner, 2010). According to this model, the patient-nurse relationship is the most important thing when offering care. This theory focuses on how the nurse-patient relationship is built while identifying the roles of nurses when discharging their duties. The theory has four components, the person, environment, health, and other human processes that include productivity, creativity, interpersonal, constructive, and community living (Masters, 2009).

The goal of this theory is to help nurses understand their own behavior, use their professional skills to help others identify their difficulties, and use the human relations principles to solve the problems that are being experienced in their daily duties (Peterson & Bredow, 2008). According to Peplau, nursing is therapeutic because of its healing characteristics. Peplau views nursing as a healing art where sick patients or those in need of health care are assisted to recover from their difficulties (Masters, 2009). Furthermore, nursing is interpersonal practice in which the relations between two or more persons with a common objective subsist. In this model, the patient and the nurse work together so as to gain a common knowledge in the care process, and is geared towards achieving a common purpose. The theory emphasizes on the roles the nurses play while discharging their duties. Hildegard Peplau acknowledged six main functions of nurses that among other comprises of the stranger and the leader.

As a stranger the nurse has the responsibility of meeting the patient and building a rapport just like in any other life situations. Acting as a teacher, the nurse passes on the necessary knowledge in accordance with the patient’s requirements and concerns. In proving the needed knowledge to the patient, the nurse also acts as a resource person (Peterson & Bredow, 2008). Specifically, the nurse communicates the essential information that is obligatory in the comprehension of the patient’s situation.

As a psychotherapist, the nurse has to offer assistance and give confidence that is vital for the patient’s recovery. In the process of guidance and encouragement, the nurse makes the patient appreciate and comprehend the existing life conditions (Peterson & Bredow, 2008). The nurse must also play the surrogating role by determining and clarifying to the patient the realm of interdependency, independence, and dependency. Finally, acting as a leader, the nurse will ensure that the patient have fully accomplished the treatment goals.

Dorothea Orem Self-Care Nursing Theory

Self-Care Nursing Theory of Dorothea Orem is also known as the Orem Nursing Model. The model is broad and takes into consideration various aspects and concepts that are applicable in all nursing situations. The primary viewpoint behind this theory is that all the patients should be assisted to care for themselves as almost all the patients would want to do so (Orem, & Taylor, 2003). The self-care enhances the patient’s quick recovery in a more holistic manner. In other words, the self-care enables the patient quickly recover in a manner they deem fit and appropriate.

The self-care prerequisites are basically categorized in three main areas. The universal self-care requisites that comprises of the needs every one else have such as food, rest, activity as well as risk prevention (Orem, & Taylor, 2003). The second requisite is the developmental self-care. The developmental self-care requisite is further divided into two categories. The maturation requisite advances the patient to the next level of development. The situational requisite protects the patient from detrimental effects during his development. The third requisite category is the health deviation. These are the requirements that normally arise depending on the patient’s condition. In case these requisites are not met, the patient suffers a self-care deficit. In such circumstances, nurses are anticipated to make available supportive modalities which in most cases are either entire or incomplete reparation.

One of the major advantages of this theory is that it can be used in various nursing circumstances and with a variety of patients (Kim, & Kollak, 2006). It has general principle and concepts that make it simple and applicable in many nursing set ups. According to the theory, nurses and patients ensure that the main goals of providing care are attained while at the same time take care of themselves for quicker recovery.

The Judge’s Overview of the Contestant

Dr. Carol Wilson

Madeleine Leininger’s theory of trans-cultural nursing seems to be more practical and simple to understand as compared to interpersonal relations theory of Hildegard Peplau and the self-care nursing theory of Dorothea Orem. In the performance criteria, the Leininger’s theory would have been graded seven out of ten. The reason is that the theory have been tested, applied and have been incorporated as a nursing discipline. The self-care nursing theory of Dorothy Orem is also more applicable in the nursing practice as compared to the interpersonal relations theory of Hildegard Peplau. Even though the theory can be applied in broad circumstances and with a variety of patients, self-care nursing theory has not been widely applied in the nursing fraternity. In terms of performance, the theory can have six points out of ten.

According to the simplicity criteria, the trans-cultural nursing theory of Madeleine Leininger will have the highest score in comparison to the other theories. The reason is that the premise is easy and straight, comprehensible and practical. In this criterion, the theory will have scored three out of three. In fact, the self-care nursing theory of Dorothy Orem will follow with a score of two out of three. The most complex theory is the interpersonal relations theory of Hildegard Peplau that has so many variables to be considered. However, Dorothy Orem’s self-care nursing theory is more useful in many fronts. It gives the patient time to have self-care while at the same time allow the nurses more time to attend to other issues. In this criterion, self-care nursing theory will have scored three out of four.

Dr. O’Brian

In the overall performance, Madeleine Leininger’s theory of trans-cultural nursing will have the highest score as compared to the rest of the theories. This theory is simple, direct, clear and more applicable. In the criterion, the theory will be rated seven out of ten. However, the Hildegard Peplau’s theory is more complex and require some of the attributes that some of the nurses may not have. The complexity of the theory makes it even harder to apply in the real nursing practice. Therefore, the theory is attractive in theory rather than in practice. Though the self-care nursing theory of Dorothy Orem is simple and has higher scores in other criteria, it has not been widely applied.

Dr. Williamson

The self-care nursing theory of Dorothy Orem should generally be the best in terms of performance. The reason being, it can be widely used in various nursing situations. This theory can be applied in all the circumstances at little cost compared to the other theories. This theory has attained higher scores in almost all the criteria. The interpersonal theory of Hildegard Peplau considers the patient care development as well as the best nursing attributes that are useful in their roles. However, the Hildegard Peplau’s theory of interpersonal relations is a bit complex as compared to the other theories. In general performance rating, it will still have lower scores compared to the other theories.

The Winner

Based on the criteria set by the judges, the overall agreement is that Madeleine Leininger is the winner of the competition. The Madeleine Leininger’s theory of trans-cultural nursing scored highly in most of the criterion set by the judges. The theory was simple, clear and has been applied in all clinical nursing. The theory has also been practiced in all other areas of nursing. In general, the theory had the highest performance.

Summary and Conclusion

The main aim of this paper was to discuss this year’s American Idol Nursing Theory Contest that includes the competition process, the contestants as well as the justification for selecting the winner. Moreover, each of the contestant theory was reviewed and rated based on the set criteria in order to come up with the best performance. On reviewing the contestant’s performances, Madeleine Leininger’s theory of trans-cultural nursing was chosen the winner. This was because of its simplicity, clarity, and wider applications in clinical nursing.

References

Basavanthappa, B. (2007). Nursing theories. Daryaganj, New Delhi: Jaypee Brothers Publishers.

Finkelman, A. & Kenner, C. (2010). Professional nursing concepts: competencies for quality leadership. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett.

Kim, H. & Kollak, I. (2006). Nursing theories: conceptual and philosophical foundations. New York, NY: Springer Publishing.

Leininger, M. & McFarland, M. (2006). Culture care diversity and universality: a worldwide nursing theory. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett.

Masters, K. (2009). Role development in professional nursing practice. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett.

Orem, K. & Taylor, S. (2003). Self- care theory in nursing. New York, NY: Springer Publishing.

Peterson, S. & Bredow, T. (2008). Middle-range theories: application to nursing research. New York, NY: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

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