Application of Nursing Theory to Clinical Practice - Essay Example

? Application of Nursing Theory to Clinical Practice Application of Nursing Theory to Clinical Practice The nursing practice applies various theories and models in the provision of care. The McGill Model is one of the theories that apply in the nursing practice. This paper addresses the McGill model in the context of the nursing practice. In doing this, the paper will provide a brief overview of the McGill nursing model in relation to the provision of care to a certain patient. The paper will briefly explain the main components of the model and discuss its application in the nursing practice. Ultimately, the paper will detail what I like about the McGill nursing model and the challenges experienced in applying the model in the delivery of nursing care. The McGill Model of Nursing The McGill nursing model is a health promotion model based on the idea of nursing as a significant field in the provision of health care. Dr. Moyra Allen guided the formulation of the theory between 1922 and 1996 (Ingram School of Nursing, 2012). The theory seeks to promote the well-being of the society and the provision of health care to patients, in their family constructs (Austin & Boyd, 2010). Ideally, the developed McGill model of nursing appreciates the role of nurses to patients and their families. Researchers initially referred to it as the Allen Model but renamed it to McGill model through empirical research (Creek & Mooney, 2012). The theory serves two important purposes in the nursing practice where it addresses people’s health and the overall welfare of the society. The theory adopts three assumptions in its application. It assumes that families have the potential to strengthen a person’s endeavors towards a state of wellness through motivation, psychological support, or financial support. It also assumes that there is a relationship between family-based efforts towards health care and the success in family care programs. Ultimately, it assumes that the promotion of care results in responsible health behavior among members of the society enhances the quality of health (Austin & Boyd, 2010). Notably, the McGill model has four salient features, which include health, family, collaboration, and learning (Austin & Boyd, 2010). Notably, the health feature seeks to establish the people’s well-being and relates to the presence of illnesses in the environment. The family feature relates to unrestricted relationships between a person and the environment. On the other hand, the collaboration feature ensures the presence of a favorable environment for learning with a view of meeting the health care needs of the person. Ultimately, the learning concept seeks to develop an environment that facilitates achievement of health care needs. Ideally, according to the McGill model, the four concepts help in promoting health care among individuals in the society (Austin & Boyd, 2010). The Patient On 25 November 2012, we admitted a 45-year old man at our health facility with disease symptoms that suggested the presence of tuberculosis and/or malaria. The patient required primary care, diagnosis, and treatment. Ideally, the patient depicted symptoms, which include fever, fatigue, night sweats, headache, weight loss (WebMD, 2013), chest pains, chills, and vomiting (WHO, 2013). Notably, the patient had a medical history of arthritis, hypertension, chronic problems, and Plasmodium falciparum malaria. The patient diagnoses entailed two detailed chest X-rays, skin tests, and the analysis of the sputum which confirmed the presence of calcification in the lungs and tuberculosis-like bacteria (Schiffman, 2013). At the same time, the laboratory testing of the patient’s blood confirmed the presence of a P. falciparum parasite that led to the diagnosis of severe malaria. The blood test entailed observing the patient’s blood smear on a microscope slide (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013). As such, the patient nursing care needs included tobacco and alcohol control, observing proper sanitation, advocating for use of mosquito nets, spraying insecticides to control mosquitoes, chemotherapies, bed rest, limiting exposure to cold, observing the recommended dosage, and eating balanced diets. Notably, I can confirm that I was able to diagnose the patient with P. falciparum malaria, which was leading the patient to experience severe breathing difficulties. More so, I was able to diagnose the patient with typical tuberculosis. I hence recommended an isoniazid (INH) injection for 6 months (Schiffman, 2013) and Artesunate + Amodiaquine for 3 days (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2013). It is however worth noting that the diagnosis, primary care, and treatment of the patient depended on the patient’s age, type of malaria parasite, severity of symptoms, and health status. As such, after the patient was through with dosage, he regained his health and resumed his work. However, it is true that the well-being of the patient equally depended on the environment and his family. Indeed, I applied the McGill model to promote the well-being of the patient as seen below. Applying the McGill Model in Providing Care for the Patient and His Family Ideally, I used the McGill model to provide health care to the patient in completing the nursing processes of assessment, diagnoses, planning, implementation, and evaluation. Assessment is the usually the first step of the nursing process and includes gathering information about the patient’s psychological, sociological, and psychological position (Nursingprocess.org, 2013). In this step, nurses conduct patient interviews, observe the patient, refer to the patient’s health history, and consider the patient's family history. Indeed, I used the McGill model to carry out an assessment of my patient. I relied on the health concept to establish the patient’s well-being and related it to the presence of illnesses in the environment. Moreover, I consulted the learning concept to concept develop an environment that facilitates achievement of health care needs for my patient. As such, using the two concepts, I admitted the patient to the health facility, carried out patient interviews, observed him, and referred to his health history. My assessment also relied on the assumption that families have the potential to strengthen a person’s endeavors towards a state of wellness through motivation, psychological support, or financial support. Consequently, I gathered that the patient had a medical history of chronic problems, arthritis, hypertension, and Plasmodium falciparum malaria. I also gathered that none of his family members had a history of tuberculosis or malaria. The diagnosing step involves making logical and informed nursing decisions about a health or health issues affecting a patient. This step describes the health issue(s) and determines the patient’s risk to encounter more health problems (Nursingprocess.org, 2013). This step informs the nurse on the course of treatment. In this case, I adopted the learning concept of the McGill model, which sought to achieve the health care needs for my patient. Indeed, this involved diagnosing my patient with typical tuberculosis and severe malaria subject to the laboratory results of the patient. The learning concept helped me to arrive at this decision and determine that the patient is at a higher risk to develop more health problems. The planning stage involves developing a plan of action with close consideration to prioritized assessment incases of multiple diagnoses. Priority goes to the diagnoses with the most severe symptoms and high risk factors (Nursingprocess.org, 2013). This stage follows the standardized nursing terms and measurements that derive the patient’s wellness. In this context, I used the collaboration concept to ensure the presence of a favorable environment for learning with a view of meeting the health care needs of the person. I also assumed that families have the potential to strengthen a person’s wellness and relationship in family-based efforts lead to the success in family care programs. That way I was able to plan the treatment plan for my patient, which included tobacco and alcohol control, advocating for use of mosquito nets, spraying insecticides, chemotherapies, limiting exposure to cold, and observing the recommended dosage. I did this with the patient’s family support in mind. The implementation stage involves adopting the action plan for specific patients. This entails monitoring the patient’s treatment progress, instructing the patient, and referring the patient for medical follow-up (Nursingprocess.org, 2013). In this case, I used the McGill nursing model assumptions that families have the potential to strengthen a patient and relationship in family-based efforts lead to the success in family care programs. Through these assumptions, I implemented the treatment plan with the help of the patient’s families. The evaluation stage seeks to establish the achievement of the patient’s wellness goals (Nursingprocess.org, 2013). In this case, I used the health concept of the McGill nursing model to establish the patient’s well-being. I also relied on the assumption that there is a relationship between family-based efforts towards health care and the success in family care programs. Since the patient was under home care, I established that his condition improved over time. Health promotion and primary health care principles applied within the context of the McGill nursing model. They applied through the model’s assumption that the promotion of care results in responsible health behavior among members of the society enhances the quality of health. Health promotion and primary health care principles include accessibility, community participation, empowerment, health promotion, holistic, appropriate technology, sustainability, participative, and inter-sectorial collaboration. Notably, the principles of promotion of care and community participation correlated with the assumption of the promotion of care results and positive community participation in enhancing the quality of health. Ideally, I like using the McGill model since it is easy to understand, it applies in the nursing practice in an effective manner, and it associates with all nursing processes, and derive authority since its author is a renowned physician, Dr. Moyra Allen (Ingram School of Nursing, 2012). The model is equally practical in the nursing practice and draws worldwide acceptance in nursing practice. Most importantly, the model helps the nurses to engage the patient or the patient’s family with a view of enhancing learning in health. However, there were difficulties in the application of the McGill model where its application requires significant knowledge to operate. References Austin, W., & Boyd, M. (2010). Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing for Canadian Practice. Hagerstown: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2013). Malaria Diagnosis (United States). Retrieved from: http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/diagnosis_treatment/diagnosis.html Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2013). Treatment of Malaria. Retrieved from: http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/resources/pdf/clinicalguidance.pdf Creek, L., & Mooney, S. (2012). Parish Nurses Health Care Chaplains and Community Clergy. London: Routledge. Ingram School of Nursing. (2012). The McGill Model of Nursing. Retrieved from: http://www.mcgill.ca/nursing/about/model/ Lab Space. (2013). Principles of Primary Health Care. Retrieved from: http://labspace.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=454398§ion=1.5.1 Nursingprocess.org. (2013). The 5 Steps of the Nursing Process. Retrieved from: http://www.nursingprocess.org/Nursing-Process-Steps.html Schiffman, G. (2013). Tuberculosis. Retrieved from: http://www.onhealth.com/tuberculosis/page5.htm#how_does_a_doctor_diagnose_tuberculosis Schiffman, G. (2013). Tuberculosis. Retrieved from: http://www.onhealth.com/tuberculosis/page6.htm#what_is_the_treatment_for_tuberculosis WebMD. (2013). Understanding Tuberculosis. Retrieved from: http://www.webmd.com/lung/understanding-tuberculosis-symptoms WHO. (2013). Malaria. Retrieved from: http://www.who.int/topics/malaria/en/ Read More