Jean_Watson_Caring_Model_of_Essay

Introduction Nursing theories evolved with the purpose of explaining, define and give meaning to various aspects and concepts in the nursing profession. According to Cohen (1991), the aims of nursing theory are to discover the meaning of one’s experience, continual spiritual growth of people who are involved and finding self healing, inner power and going beyond one’s limit. In this paper, the writer will discuss about the concept of “caring” which was invented by Jean Watson by utilizing the four meta-paradigms-Person, Health, Environment, and Nursing. The writer will also discuss on how this theory is applicable to nursing practice. “Watson’s human science and human care theory” or more commonly known as “The Caring Model” was developed by Jean Watson in 1979 (Hood, 2010; Vanguard Health Systems, n.d.). Watson’s model stresses on the unique events in the past, present and future which will influence and affect each individual and the carative factors which reflect on how ‘caring’ can be demonstrated through the practice of nursing (Hood, 2010, p. 140). Watson’s theory of human caring also emphasizes on the holistic care of the patients and the inter-relationship between caregivers and patients (Lukose, 2011). In simpler terms, Watson’s theory of care simply denotes the importance of the humanistic caring natures and how important it is in everyday lives even in those who are sick.   Person Jean Watson defined “human being” as “a valued person in and of him to be cared for, respected, nurtured, understood, and assisted; in general a philosophical view of a person as a fully functional integrated self. He, human is viewed as greater than and different from, the sum of his or parts” (Jean Watson’s Philosophy of Nursing, 2012). Hereby means that, in order to achieve a caring environment, nurses must initiate a caring nurse-patient relationship, taking into consideration that each patient is a unique person of his or her own self thus the need to treat them holistically and with empathy, understanding and unconditional acceptance of who they are. Watson’s theory of caring is showing that every human being is very different and unique in their own way. For example, people of different cultures and ethnics will react differently to different stimuli. Besides that, people of different upbringing will also act differently. Therefore, it is very important to regard each patient as who he or she is and not a general conception of who they are suppose to be. The writer sees the importance from Watson’s theory of care that nurses should build positive caring rapport and communicate more to patients and their family. At the place where the writer works, it is a must for nurses to greet patient by patient’s surname and introducing themselves and their assistant to the patients prior to the start of shift. This is so that patients will know that they are under somebody’s care and at the same time, feel that they are being respected. Each patient’s bedside cupboard also has a pamphlet stating the Patient’s Right Charter which inform patient that they are being respected as a human being with full autonomy to decide the care and treatment that they want as long as they are capable to make decisions. Maintaining a clean environment, maintaining eye contact when communicating with patients or simply reassuring them from time to time are all simple gestures which nurses can adapt to exhibit the theory of caring by Watson (Lukose, 2011). Many times nurses are so lost in the busy environment and so task-oriented that they forgot to slow down and get to know what the patients really want thus causing patients to lose autonomy and the chance to participate in their own care. Health World Health Organization (2001) defines health as “A state of complete physical, mental, and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. Watson stated that health is the balance between the person’s perception and experience of self and the synchronization inside the body, mind and soul of the person (Watson, 2007, p48). According to Hood (2010), Watson explained the importance of seeing health as a state of disharmony between the person self and the surroundings, she believed that in order to achieve a higher degree of health, patient must have certain understanding of their illness and current treatment. In the Acute Stroke Unit (ASU) where the writer works, Watson’s theory of caring is very applicable to the ward situation. Stroke is an illness that does not only affect one’s body function but also the psychological and social well being of the person affected. The writer does agree with Jean Watson that in order to achieve the optimum health, the roles of nurses do not only focus on patients’ physical conditions. Nurses also need to be aware if their patients are experiencing depression due to their sudden physical inabilities in activities of daily livings and the social support for the patient’s family will also be affected if the patient is the bread winner of the family. This is consistent with the Watson’s ‘health’ paradigm whereby nurses are encouraged to see patients as a whole and not just looking solely at what the disease caused. Environment Daniel and Lynn (2012, p.36-37) defined environment as the man-made physical and social places which continuously undergo changes and have significant impact on a person’s healthy well being as this is where they stay. Environment refers to the surroundings where human lives. There is a universal force that influences human behaviors and perceptions of the world, “be they internal, external, human, humanmade, artificial, natural, cosmic, psychic, past, present or future” (Watson, 2007, p. 48). According to Jean Watson’s Philosophy of Nursing (2012), Jean Watson did mention that caring in nursing has existed in every society and the caring attitude is not transmitted from generation to generation but instead, is transmitted by the culture of the profession in a unique way of coping with its environment. The writer somehow agrees with Watson’s definition of “environment”. As ASU was created to cohort all stroke patients to deliver an effective, efficient, and optimum care for patients, the writer also feels that when nursing all the stroke patients together, the patients are able to cope with the conditions better. The stroke patients can somehow support each other psychologically as they will usually encourage each other to engage actively in rehabilitative activities. There are also stroke survivor support groups and volunteers who come and visit the patients and give them some emotional supports and advise on how to adapt to the illness and the outside world. With all these supports, it creates a positive effect to the patients so that they know they are not alone. In a way, Watson’s definition of environment is taken into consideration as the ASU sees the importance of creating a positive vibe around the patients because they know that human beings are easily influence by the surroundings. Watson also talked about the importance of communication between the nurses and the patients in her ten primary carative factors. It is indeed a very pivotal factor especially with the increased technologies usage these days. In order to achieve paperless system, nurses depend a lot on the computers thus causing them to communicate less to the patients. In addition, with the endless documents to deal with in the computer systems and the problems of having slow computer systems or nurses who are not so well versed with the new technology, nurses tend to spend more time on the computers instead of being with the patients. United Kingdom Prime Minister recently spoken in the Daily Mail (2012) online news saying that “nurses must be told to talk to patients” as there are very small number of nurses who actually understand that being caring to the patients is the main thing in their profession, not the paper works. Another Singapore local newspaper, The Straits Times dated 18 September 2012 also highlighted a study which found that doctors and nurses communicate more via the computer rather than face to face with patients. This recent problem has brings up the need for healthcare organization to re-look into the definition of caring from the point of Watson’s theory and how it can be achieved in this technology advanced era.   Nursing As mentioned by Jean Watson’s Philosophy of Nursing (2012), Watson defines nursing as “…a human science of person and human health-illness experiences that are mediated by professional, personal, scientific, esthetic and ethical human transactions”. Watson (2007) stated that caring as the essence of nursing and can be viewed as the nurse’s morale of preserving dignity. In nursing, she believes that holistic health care is central to the practice of caring. The writer believes that nurse’s roles are not only limited to caregiving, but also as an educator and patient’s advocator. As a patient’s educator, nurses are to provide health related information and help clients to learn and acquire new knowledge. For example, nurses in ASU provide stroke education to patient on how to recognise stoke symptoms, diet control, medication compliance, advice on change of unhealthy behaviours such as drinking and smoking. With all these education given to the patients and family, the nurses hope that these may help minimize the chance of having recurrent stroke. As a patient’s advocator, with a good nurse-patient relationship, nurses are able to speak on behalf of patients to gain the best options of care on patient’s own interest. This may also help to increase patient’s recovery rate as they will be more compliant to the care provided. Besides the different roles that the nurses play, there always lies a need for them to understand each patient as a whole individual person on his own. Nurses need to be sensitive to every individual different needs and wants and acknowledge those differences. This is the main thing that was conveyed by Watson in her theory which is very applicable to the nursing profession. Conclusions The writer thinks that the Watson’s theory of caring is very applicable to her nursing care for stroke patients as those patients may not only need physical care, but also psychosocial care from the nurses. Stroke patients often exhibit sadness and depressive behaviors as they may not always recover to the premorbid states of health. Plus, in this crude and realistic world, many patients find it hard to survive with limited physical capabilities. Therefore, the writer thinks that as a nurse, she should put herself in the patients’ shoes and lend a listening ear to the patients from time to time to show care and empathy. From the four metaparadigms of Jean Watson’s theory, the writer also learned that it is probably easy for nurses to say that they care but the act of caring of it is hard. With the conventional task-based nursing which most nurses still strongly held on to till these days, many often forget that the simplest act of talking and holding hand with the patients make a lot of difference to the patients’ lives. To sum up, nursing theories serve as a foundation and a body of knowledge into understanding different aspects and concepts in the field of nursing. The theories may seem a little abstract and daunting to comprehend, however, it is entirely up to the nursing researchers to decide how the theories can fit snugly into the area of practice and try explaining them in simpler languages which everyone can understand.