Students will develop a personal philosophical statement, create a mind map, and select a nursing theorist/theory that is compatible with their individual nursing practice. Students will write a 3-4 page scholarly paper that includes a)) how their personal philosophical statement is compatible with their one chosen theory; b) how they envision using their selected theory/philosophical statement in their individual nursing practice to improve patient outcomes, via a patient case study. The self-created theory mind map will be attached to this assignment, along with APA style references and a title page (these three elements are not counted toward the paper page limit).
NOTE: We strongly discourage students from using Nightingale as well as Henderson’s theories for this assignment. For this to be meaningful and useful in your clinical settings, we want you to use a contemporary nursing theory. Your textbook has many to choose from!
A. Personal philosophical Statement :
The use of a nursing philosophy is the basis for nursing practice and promotes the proper application of nursing knowledge as well as the development of nursing theory and knowledge.
• Develop a personal nursing specific philosophical statement incorporating your personal thoughts, and beliefs about nursing to improve patient outcomes.
• Information regarding your personal philosophical statement will be included in your mind map, and discussed in the scholarly paper. (See below for more details).
B. Theory Mind Map:
1. Incorporate your personal philosophical statement in your mind map.
2. Illustrate the compatibility of your one selected theorist/theory with your personal philosophical statement of how you practice nursing in your mind map. (In other words…provide a conceptual image/drawing of how you envision your personal philosophical statement is compatible with your selected theorist/theory through use of the nursing metaparadigm as you think about improving patient outcomes.
Mind Map Specifics:
• Complete an individual mind map/drawing to illustrate/demonstrate synthesis of course concepts by relating one nursing theory to your experiences as a nurse and application to practice.
• The mind map shows the relationship of the concepts of person, environment, health and nursing by a theorist of your choice as you see the theory helping to improve patient outcomes and as it relates to your personal philosophical statement. NOTE: each theorist has their own unique terms/concepts within each metaparadigm domain concept. We are looking for these terms. No examples of mind maps are given so you can be creative.
• The mind map can be stick figures, pictures, drawings, diagrams, etc. Review the document “How To Create a Mind Map in Word. How To Create Mind Map in Word
Mind map will include:
a. Personal thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about the four domain concepts of the nursing metaparadigm:
Person/client
Environment Health Nursing
b. Your personal philosophical statement clearly stated
c. Connection or relationship to one selected nursing theory with your theorist’s key terminology evident in the mind map–theory terms within each metaparadigm domain concept.
C. What is expected in the scholarly paper along with the mind map:
1. Clearly identify and state your personal philosophical statement in the scholarly paper and briefly discuss. Minimum 1/2 page.
2. Discuss the compatibility of your personal philosophical statement with a chosen existing nursing theory in the scholarly paper. Discuss how these two are similar and different. Include details of the nursing theory, including at least 3 core concepts ( not the metaparadigm domain concepts, but rather their actual unique words/phrases/terminology), compared to your philosophical statement. Only select one theory. Minimum 2 pages.
3. Discuss the chosen theory’s application to your current practice in the scholarly paper by providing a specific clinical (case) example of how you would apply this theory combined with your personal philosophical statement to improve patient outcomes. This is a distinct and separate section of the paper. Be sure to use a clear case example and both theory terms as well as the major part of your philosophical statement.
