Definition of:
Concept
Theory
Principle
Characteristics of Theory
Concept
• Are mental representations, abstract objects
or abilities that make up the fundamental
building blocks of thoughts and beliefs.
• A concept is a thought or idea. ... A concept is
an idea conceived in the mind.
Concepts can be:
• Empirical- when they can be observed or
experienced through the senses
• Example:
• Abstract: Are those that are not observable,
such as caring,hope,love
• caring, hope and love are difficult to picture,
as one has never had the opportunity to
observe these concepts in reality
What are Fundamental Nursing Concepts?
1. Human being
Each person comprises several different
aspects to create a whole.
This includes psychological, social, physical
and spiritual areas of a person's life.
It also includes cultural aspects that might be
important to the patient.
Understanding a patient is more than just the
medical condition that brought him into the
hospital is essential to his care.
Environment
• A comfortable environment and proper care
can influence the speed of a patient's
recovery.
A patient's environment
• which includes where they spend their time and their socio-economic status,
as well as the people within their environment, is another concept of nursing.
• One of the most influential aspects of environment is the health care a person
has access to. For example, the health of someone who has had regular
access to quality health care has a better chance of catching serious
conditions, such as cancer, in the very early stages, giving them a better
chance of recovery.
• An individual who does not have this access to health care might have the
same problems, but might not catch it as early, resulting in a less optimistic
prognosis.
• Environment also includes the social support a patient receives and the
environment of the hospital, which is partially controlled by nurses. A
comfortable environment and proper care can influence the speed of a
patient's recovery.
Health
The third fundamental concept in nursing is health.
Nurses need to be continuously aware of the health of their patients.
Nurses usually focus first on the patient's main health complaint, but
they also must pay attention to any other possible symptoms, and the
overall wellness of the patient.
For example, an older woman who is seeking treatment for a heart
condition might also be having problems with medication side effects.
She might also be worried about her health in general, and
need reassurance. A nurse would make note of the secondary
health concerns, and try to reassure the patient, as well as
letting the doctor know of the patient's concerns.
The fourth fundamental concept is nursing
The fourth concept is the actual process of nursing.
As a concept, nursing is considered not only a
science, but also an art, according to the Chinese
Medical University. It includes learning leadership,
decision making, and approaches for meeting all of
a patient's needs, not just their immediate health
concerns. It involves both teaching and learning,
ethical and legal training, the ability to work within
a team and quick reasoning skills.
The four main duties of a nurse as part of the
nursing concept are
• to promote well-being,
• prevent disease and injury,
• assist in healing and
• do whatever is possible to ease suffering, as
long as it is both ethical and legal.
Theory
• A theory is a group of linked ideas intended to explain
something. ... They can be tested to provide support
for, or challenge the theory.
• The word 'theory' has several meanings: a guess or
speculation.
• In everyday use, the word "theory" often means an
untested hunch, or a guess without supporting
evidence.
principle
Scientific law from theory
• Scientific laws and theories have different jobs to do. A scientific law
predicts the results of certain initial conditions. It might predict your
unborn child’s possible hair colors, or how far a baseball travels
when launched at a certain angle.
• In contrast, a theory tries to provide the most logical explanation
about why things happen as they do. A theory might invoke
dominant and recessive genes to explain how brown-haired parents
ended up with a red-headed child, or use gravity to shed light on the
parabolic trajectory of a baseball.
Nursing paradigm
• The nursing metaparadigm consist
of four main concepts:
• person, health, environment, and nursing.
Each theory is regularly defined and described by a
Nursing Theorist.
• The main focal point of nursing out of the four various
common concepts is the person (patient).
