nursing knowledge essay

Domain 1: Knowledge for Nursing Practice

Descriptor:  Integration, translation, and application of established and evolving disciplinary nursing knowledge and ways of knowing, as well as knowledge from other disciplines, including a foundation in liberal arts and natural and social sciences. This distinguishes the practice of professional nursing and forms the basis for clinical judgment and innovation in nursing practice.

Contextual Statement:  Knowledge for Nursing Practice provides the context for understanding nursing as a scientific discipline. The lens of nursing, informed by nursing history, knowledge, and science, reflects nursing’s desire to incorporate multiple perspectives into nursing practice, leading to nursing’s unique way of knowing and caring.

Preparation in both liberal arts and sciences and professional nursing coursework provides graduates with the essential abilities to function as independent, intellectually curious, socially responsible, competent practitioners (Tobbell, 2018). A liberal education creates the foundation for the development of intellectual and practical abilities within the context of nursing. Further, liberal education is the key to understanding self and others; contributes to safe, quality care; and informs the development of clinical judgment.

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Entry-Level Domain 1 Competencies

1.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the discipline of nursing’s distinct perspective and where shared perspectives exist with other disciplines

1.1a Identify concepts, derived from theories from nursing and other disciplines, which distinguish the practice of nursing.

1.1b Apply knowledge of nursing science that develops a foundation for nursing practice.

1.1c Understand the historical foundation of nursing as the relationship developed between the individual and nurse.

1.1d Articulate nursing’s distinct perspective to practice.

1.2 Apply theory and research-based knowledge from nursing, the arts, humanities, and other sciences.

1.2a Apply or employ knowledge from nursing science as well as the natural, physical, and social sciences to build an understanding of the human experience and nursing practice.

1.2b Demonstrate intellectual curiosity

1.2c Demonstrate social responsibility as a global citizen who fosters the attainment of health equity for all.

1.2d Examine influence of personal values in decision making for nursing practice.

1.2e Demonstrate ethical decision making.

1.3 Demonstrate clinical judgment founded on a broad knowledge base.

1.3a Demonstrate clinical reasoning.

1.3b Integrate nursing knowledge (theories, multiple ways of knowing, evidence) and knowledge from other disciplines and inquiry to inform clinical judgment.

1.3c Incorporate knowledge from nursing and other disciplines to support clinical judgment.

Advanced-Level Domain 1 Competencies

1.1e Translate evidence from nursing science as well as other sciences into practice.

1.1f Demonstrate the application of nursing science to practice.

1.1g Integrate an understanding of nursing history in advancing nursing’s influence in health care.

1.2f Synthesize knowledge from nursing and other disciplines to inform education, practice, and research.

1.2g Apply a systematic and defendable approach to nursing practice decisions.

1.2h Employ ethical decision making to assess, intervene, and evaluate nursing care.

1.2i Demonstrate socially responsible leadership.

1.2j Translate theories from nursing and other disciplines to practice.

1.3d Integrate foundational and advanced specialty knowledge into clinical reasoning.

1.3e Synthesize current and emerging evidence to influence practice.

1.3f Analyze decision models from nursing and other knowledge domains to improve clinical judgment.

Nursing Knowledge Skills And Attitudes

The sample paper on Nursing Knowledge Skills And Attitudes familiarizes the reader with the topic-related facts, theories, and approaches. Scroll down to read the entire paper.

Nursing: Essential Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes Introduction Nursing is not just a collection of tasks. To provide safe and effective care to the clients, nurses must integrate knowledge, skills and attitudes to make sound judgement and decisions. This essay describes some of the essential knowledge, skills and attitudes of nursing and discusses why they are essential attributes of a competent nurse.

Nursing knowledge and clinical skills These are obvious essentials for nursing practice.

Nurses are required to perform many clinical tasks, for instance physical assessments and injections, which require competent clinical skills to ensure safe outcomes for patients. A broad base of nursing knowledge including physiology, pharmacology and nursing theories is needed for effective critical thinking, clinical judgement and decision-making. Nurses develop expertise in nursing through the acquisition of nursing knowledge and clinical experience (Crisp & Taylor, 2005).

Knowledge of legal and ethical issues

Knowledge of legal issues are essential because nurses are required to practise in accordance with legislation affecting nursing practice and health care (ANMC, 2006) Failure to respect the legal rights of clients may result in legal or disciplinary actions. Nurses also encounter ethical issues everyday. To deal effectively with them, nurses need to have the ability to identify ethical issues correctly, understand their implications and make ethical decisions (Daly, Speedy& Jackson, 2006). Knowledge about legal and ethical principles is needed to justify nursing practice (Francis, Bowman & Redgrave, 2001).

Proficient in: Attitude

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What Knowledge Skills And Abilities Are Required For Nursing

Communication skills Communication is the sending and receiving of messages via symbols, words, signs, gestures or cues (Peate, 2006). Communication skills are required for every nursing interaction, assessment and intervention (Jones & Cheek, 2003). They are important diagnostic and therapeutic tools (Francis et al, 2001). Effective communication is essential for the establishment of therapeutic relationships and help to diminish assessment errors, misunderstanding and conflicts, while poor communication can lead to litigation or result in harm to clients (Francis et al).

Listening and attending, empathy, information giving and support in the context of a nurse-patient relationship are identified as essential communication skills in nursing (Timmins, 2007). Critical thinking and reflection As the nurses who participated in a study (Jones & Cheek, 2003) overwhelmingly advised, there is no such thing as a typical day for a nurse. Nurses face new situations everyday and it is important that they can adjust their knowledge and skills accordingly. Critical thinking and reflection are essential skills because they can enhance nurses’ ability to solve problems and make sound decisions.

Critical thinking skills enable nurses to identify multiple possibilities in clinical situations and alternatives to interventions; weigh the consequences of alternate actions; and make sound judgement and decisions (Brunt, 2005). Through reflection, nurses can examine their practice, explore feelings and reactions and connect new meanings to past experience (Brunt). Reflection can enhance self-awareness, foster professional satisfaction and growth and increase the possibility for change and improvement in nursing practice and therapeutic relationships (Thorne & Hayes, 1997). Compassion and respect

Compassion and respect are essential attitudes for nursing practice. Compassion has been described as the “wounding of the heart” or a “visceral reaction” to the experience of human suffering (Peters, 2006) and is essential for the establishment of good nurse-patient relationship. Patients expect nurses to be compassionate and compassion is one of the main criteria patients evaluate the quality of nursing practice (Graber & Mitcham, 2004). Respect is another essential attitude. Nurses are required to practise “in a way that acknowledges the dignity, culture, values, beliefs and rights of individuals/groups” (ANMC, 2006).

To deliver effective and non-discriminatory nursing care to clients, it is essential that nurses recognise and respect diversities in culture, values, beliefs, thinking, opinions and lifestyles (Ervin, 2005), and clients’ right to privacy, confidentiality and dignity. Conclusion All of the above are important knowledge, skills and attitudes that a nurse should possess. They are like bricks in a foundation. A wall will fall if a brick in its foundation is missing. A professional nurse must integrate these essential knowledge, skills and attitudes to deliver holistic care to the clients.

References Australian Nursing & Midwifery Council (ANMC). (2006). National Competency Standards for the Registered Nurse (4th edn. ). Retrieved April 4, 2008, from http://www. anmc. org. au/docs/Competency_standards_RN. pdf Brunt, B. A. (2005). Models, measurement, and strategies in developing critical-thinking skills. Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 36 (6), 255-62. Retrieved April 6, 2008, from CINAHL database. Bryant, H. (2007). Board’s eye view. The need to treat patients with dignity and respect.

Emergency Nurse: The Journal Of The RCN Accident And Emergency Nursing Association, 15 (8), 39. Daly, J. , Speedy, S. & Jackson, D. (2006) Contexts of nursing: An introduction (2nd edn. ). Australia: Elsevier. Ervin, N. E. (2005). 101 ways to improve nursing culture: respect diversity. Michigan Nurse, 78 (8), 17. Retrieved April 10, 2008, from CINAHL database. Francis, K. , Bowman, S. & Redgrave, M. (2001). Rural Nurses: Knowledge and Skills Required to Meet the Challenges of a Changing Work Environment in the 21st Century: A Review of the Literature.

Retrieved April 9, 2008, from http://www. dest. gov. au/archive/highered/nursing/pubs/rural_nurses/1. htm Graber, D. R. & Mitcham, M. D. (2004). Compassionate clinicians: take patient care beyond the ordinary. Holistic Nursing Practice, 18 (2), 87-94. Retrieved April 4, 2008, from CINAHL database. Grypdonck, M. (2008). Ethics of care, asymmetry, recognition and pity in nursing care. Nursing Ethics, 15 (2), 274-5 Hudacek, S. S. (2008). Dimensions of caring: a qualitative analysis of nurses’ stories. The Journal Of Nursing Education, 47 (3), 124-9.

Retrieved April 6, 2008, from CINAHL database. Jones, J. & Cheek, J. (2003). The scope of nursing in Australia: a snapshot of the challenges and skills needed. Journal of Nursing Management, 11, 121-129. Retrieved April 10, 2008, from CINAHL database. Milton, C. L. (2005). The Ethics of Respect in Nursing. Nursing Science Quarterly, 18 (1), 20-23. Malloch, K. (2000). Nurse-patient relationships: essential skills for expert nursing practice. Creative Nursing, 6 (4), 12-3. Retrieved April 4, 2008, from CINAHL database. Peate, I. (2006). Becoming a Nurse in the 21st Century.

England:Wiley. Peters, M. A. (2007). Compassion: an investigation into the experience of nursing faculty. International Journal for Human Caring, 10 (3), 38-46. Retrieved April 6, 2008, from CINAHL database. Thorne, S. & Hayes, V. (eds). (1997). Nursing Praxis: Knowledge and action. London: Sage. Timmins, F. (2007). Communication skills: revisiting the fundamentals. Nursing Prescribing, 5 (9), 395-399. Retrieved April 5, 2008, from CINAHL database. Toofany, S. (2008). Critical thinking among nurses. Nursing Management, 14 (9), 28-31. Retrieved April 4, 2008, from CINAHL database.

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Nursing Theories and Theorists: The Definitive Guide for Nurses

In this guide for nursing theories and nursing theorists , we aim to help you understand what comprises a nursing theory and its importance, purpose, history, types, or classifications, and give you an overview through summaries of selected nursing theories.

Table of Contents

• What are Nursing Theories?

Defining Terms

History of nursing theories, environment, definitions, relational statements, assumptions, why are nursing theories important, in academic discipline, in research, in the profession, grand nursing theories, middle-range nursing theories, practice-level nursing theories, factor-isolating theory, explanatory theory, prescriptive theories, other ways of classifying nursing theories, florence nightingale, hildegard e. peplau, virginia henderson, faye glenn abdellah, ernestine wiedenbach, lydia e. hall, joyce travelbee, kathryn e. barnard, evelyn adam, nancy roper, winifred logan, and alison j. tierney, ida jean orlando, jean watson.

• Marilyn Anne Ray 

Patricia Benner

Kari martinsen, katie eriksson, myra estrin levine, martha e. rogers, dorothea e. orem, imogene m. king, betty neuman, sister callista roy, dorothy e. johnson, anne boykin and savina o. schoenhofer, afaf ibrahim meleis, nola j. pender, madeleine m. leininger, margaret a. newman, rosemarie rizzo parse, helen c. erickson, evelyn m. tomlin, and mary ann p. swain, gladys l. husted and james h. husted, ramona t. mercer, merle h. mishel, pamela g. reed, carolyn l. wiener and marylin j. dodd, georgene gaskill eakes, mary lermann burke, and margaret a. hainsworth, phil barker, katharine kolcaba, cheryl tatano beck, kristen m. swanson, cornelia m. ruland and shirley m. moore, wanda de aguiar horta, recommended resources, what are nursing theories.

Nursing theories are organized bodies of knowledge to define what nursing is, what nurses do, and why they do it. Nursing theories provide a way to define nursing as a unique discipline that is separate from other disciplines (e.g., medicine). It is a framework of concepts and purposes intended to guide nursing practice at a more concrete and specific level.

Nursing, as a profession, is committed to recognizing its own unparalleled body of knowledge vital to nursing practice—nursing science. To distinguish this foundation of knowledge, nurses need to identify, develop, and understand concepts and theories in line with nursing. As a science, nursing is based on the theory of what nursing is, what nurses do, and why. Nursing is a unique discipline and is separate from medicine. It has its own body of knowledge on which delivery of care is based.

The development of nursing theory demands an understanding of selected terminologies, definitions, and assumptions.

• Philosophy. These are beliefs and values that define a way of thinking and are generally known and understood by a group or discipline.
• Theory . A belief, policy, or procedure proposed or followed as the basis of action. It refers to a logical group of general propositions used as principles of explanation. Theories are also used to describe, predict, or control phenomena.
• Concept. Concepts are often called the building blocks of theories. They are primarily the vehicles of thought that involve images.
• Models. Models are representations of the interaction among and between the concepts showing patterns. They present an overview of the theory’s thinking and may demonstrate how theory can be introduced into practice.
• Conceptual framework. A conceptual framework is a group of related ideas, statements, or concepts. It is often used interchangeably with the conceptual model and with grand theories .
• Proposition. Propositions are statements that describe the relationship between the concepts.
• Domain . The domain is the perspective or territory of a profession or discipline.
• Process. Processes are organized steps, changes, or functions intended to bring about the desired result.
• Paradigm. A paradigm refers to a pattern of shared understanding and assumptions about reality and the world, worldview, or widely accepted value system.
• Metaparadigm. A metaparadigm is the most general statement of discipline and functions as a framework in which the more restricted structures of conceptual models develop. Much of the theoretical work in nursing focused on articulating relationships among four major concepts: person, environment, health, and nursing.

The first nursing theories appeared in the late 1800s when a strong emphasis was placed on nursing education.

• In 1860, Florence Nightingale defined nursing in her “ Environmental Theory ” as “the act of utilizing the patient’s environment to assist him in his recovery.”
• In the 1950s, there is a consensus among nursing scholars that nursing needed to validate itself through the production of its own scientifically tested body of knowledge.
• In 1952, Hildegard Peplau introduced her Theory of Interpersonal Relations that emphasizes the nurse -client relationship as the foundation of nursing practice.
• In 1955, Virginia Henderson conceptualized the nurse’s role as assisting sick or healthy individuals to gain independence in meeting 14 fundamental needs. Thus her Nursing Need Theory was developed.
• In 1960, Faye Abdellah published her work “Typology of 21 Nursing Problems,” which shifted the focus of nursing from a disease-centered approach to a patient-centered approach.
• In 1962, Ida Jean Orlando emphasized the reciprocal relationship between patient and nurse and viewed nursing’s professional function as finding out and meeting the patient’s immediate need for help.
• In 1968, Dorothy Johnson pioneered the Behavioral System Model and upheld the fostering of efficient and effective behavioral functioning in the patient to prevent illness.
• In 1970, Martha Rogers viewed nursing as both a science and an art as it provides a way to view the unitary human being, who is integral with the universe.
• In 1971, Dorothea Orem stated in her theory that nursing care is required if the client is unable to fulfill biological, psychological, developmental, or social needs.
• In 1971, Imogene King ‘s Theory of Goal attainment stated that the nurse is considered part of the patient’s environment and the nurse-patient relationship is for meeting goals towards good health.
• In 1972, Betty Neuman , in her theory, states that many needs exist, and each may disrupt client balance or stability. Stress reduction is the goal of the system model of nursing practice.
• In 1979, Sr. Callista Roy viewed the individual as a set of interrelated systems that maintain the balance between these various stimuli.
• In 1979, Jean Watson developed the philosophy of caring, highlighted humanistic aspects of nursing as they intertwine with scientific knowledge and nursing practice.

The Nursing Metaparadigm

Four major concepts are frequently interrelated and fundamental to nursing theory: person, environment, health, and nursing. These four are collectively referred to as metaparadigm for nursing .

Person (also referred to as Client or Human Beings) is the recipient of nursing care and may include individuals, patients, groups, families, and communities.

Environment (or situation) is defined as the internal and external surroundings that affect the client. It includes all positive or negative conditions that affect the patient, the physical environment, such as families, friends, and significant others, and the setting for where they go for their healthcare.

Health is defined as the degree of wellness or well-being that the client experiences. It may have different meanings for each patient, the clinical setting, and the health care provider.

The nurse’s attributes, characteristics, and actions provide care on behalf of or in conjunction with the client. There are numerous definitions of nursing, though nursing scholars may have difficulty agreeing on its exact definition. The ultimate goal of nursing theories is to improve patient care.

You’ll find that these four concepts are used frequently and defined differently throughout different nursing theories. Each nurse theorist’s definition varies by their orientation, nursing experience , and different factors that affect the theorist’s nursing view. The person is the main focus, but how each theorist defines the nursing metaparadigm gives a unique take specific to a particular theory. To give you an example, below are the different definitions of various theorists on the nursing metaparadigm:

Components of Nursing Theories

For a theory to be a theory, it has to contain concepts, definitions, relational statements, and assumptions that explain a phenomenon. It should also explain how these components relate to each other.

A term given to describe an idea or response about an event, a situation, a process, a group of events, or a group of situations. Phenomena may be temporary or permanent. Nursing theories focus on the phenomena of nursing.

Interrelated concepts define a theory. Concepts are used to help describe or label a phenomenon. They are words or phrases that identify, define, and establish structure and boundaries for ideas generated about a particular phenomenon. Concepts may be abstract or concrete.

• Abstract Concepts . Defined as mentally constructed independently of a specific time or place.
• Concrete Concepts . Are directly experienced and related to a particular time or place.

Definitions are used to convey the general meaning of the concepts of the theory. Definitions can be theoretical or operational.

• Theoretical Definitions . Define a particular concept based on the theorist’s perspective.
• Operational Definitions . States how concepts are measured.

Relational statements define the relationships between two or more concepts. They are the chains that link concepts to one another.

Assumptions are accepted as truths and are based on values and beliefs. These statements explain the nature of concepts, definitions, purpose, relationships, and structure of a theory.

Nursing theories are the basis of nursing practice today. In many cases, nursing theory guides knowledge development and directs education, research, and practice. Historically, nursing was not recognized as an academic discipline or as a profession we view today. Before nursing theories were developed, nursing was considered to be a task-oriented occupation. The training and function of nurses were under the direction and control of the medical profession. Let’s take a look at the importance of nursing theory and its significance to nursing practice:

• Nursing theories help recognize what should set the foundation of practice by explicitly describing nursing.
• By defining nursing, a nursing theory also helps nurses understand their purpose and role in the healthcare setting.
• Theories serve as a rationale or scientific reasons for nursing interventions and give nurses the knowledge base necessary for acting and responding appropriately in nursing care situations.
• Nursing theories provide the foundations of nursing practice, generate further knowledge, and indicate which direction nursing should develop in the future (Brown, 1964).
• By providing nurses a sense of identity, nursing theory can help patients, managers, and other healthcare professionals to acknowledge and understand the unique contribution that nurses make to the healthcare service (Draper, 1990).
• Nursing theories prepare the nurses to reflect on the assumptions and question the nursing values, thus further defining nursing and increasing the knowledge base.
• Nursing theories aim to define, predict, and demonstrate nursing phenomenon (Chinn and Jacobs, 1978).
• It can be regarded as an attempt by the nursing profession to maintain and preserve its professional limits and boundaries.
• Nursing theories can help guide research and informing evidence-based practice.
• Provide a common language and terminology for nurses to use in communication and practice.
• Serves as a basis for the development of nursing education and training programs.
• In many cases, nursing theories guide knowledge development and directs education, research, and practice, although each influences the others. (Fitzpatrick and Whall, 2005).

Purposes of Nursing Theories

The primary purpose of theory in nursing is to improve practice by positively influencing the health and quality of life of patients. Nursing theories are essential for the development and advancement of the nursing profession. Nursing theories are also developed to define and describe nursing care, guide nursing practice, and provide a basis for clinical decision-making. In the past, the accomplishments of nursing led to the recognition of nursing in an academic discipline, research, and profession.

Much of the earlier nursing programs identified the major concepts in one or two nursing models, organized the concepts, and build an entire nursing curriculum around the created framework. These models’ unique language was typically introduced into program objectives, course objectives, course descriptions, and clinical performance criteria. The purpose was to explain the fundamental implications of the profession and enhance the profession’s status.

The development of theory is fundamental to the research process, where it is necessary to use theory as a framework to provide perspective and guidance to the research study. Theory can also be used to guide the research process by creating and testing phenomena of interest. To improve the nursing profession’s ability to meet societal duties and responsibilities, there needs to be a continuous reciprocal and cyclical connection with theory, practice, and research. This will help connect the perceived “gap” between theory and practice and promote the theory-guided practice.

Clinical practice generates research questions and knowledge for theory. In a clinical setting, its primary contribution has been the facilitation of reflecting, questioning, and thinking about what nurses do. Because nurses and nursing practice are often subordinate to powerful institutional forces and traditions, introducing any framework that encourages nurses to reflect on, question, and think about what they do provide an invaluable service.

Classification of Nursing Theories

There are different ways to categorize nursing theories. They are classified depending on their function, levels of abstraction, or goal orientation.

By Abstraction

There are three major categories when classifying nursing theories based on their level of abstraction: grand theory, middle-range theory, and practice-level theory.

• Grand theories are abstract, broad in scope, and complex, therefore requiring further research for clarification.
• Grand nursing theories do not guide specific nursing interventions but rather provide a general framework and nursing ideas.
• Grand nursing theorists develop their works based on their own experiences and their time, explaining why there is so much variation among theories.
• Address the nursing metaparadigm components of person, nursing, health, and environment.
• More limited in scope (compared to grand theories) and present concepts and propositions at a lower level of abstraction. They address a specific phenomenon in nursing.
• Due to the difficulty of testing grand theories, nursing scholars proposed using this level of theory.
• Most middle-range theories are based on a grand theorist’s works, but they can be conceived from research, nursing practice, or the theories of other disciplines.
• Practice nursing theories are situation-specific theories that are narrow in scope and focuses on a specific patient population at a specific time.
• Practice-level nursing theories provide frameworks for nursing interventions and suggest outcomes or the effect of nursing practice.
• Theories developed at this level have a more direct effect on nursing practice than more abstract theories.
• These theories are interrelated with concepts from middle-range theories or grand theories.

By Goal Orientation

Theories can also be classified based on their goals. They can be descriptive or prescriptive .

Descriptive Theories

• Descriptive theories are the first level of theory development. They describe the phenomena and identify its properties and components in which it occurs.
• Descriptive theories are not action-oriented or attempt to produce or change a situation.
• There are two types of descriptive theories: factor-isolating theory and explanatory theory .
• Also known as category-formulating or labeling theory.
• Theories under this category describe the properties and dimensions of phenomena.
• Explanatory theories describe and explain the nature of relationships of certain phenomena to other phenomena.
• Address the nursing interventions for a phenomenon, guide practice change, and predict consequences.
• Includes propositions that call for change.
• In nursing, prescriptive theories are used to anticipate the outcomes of nursing interventions.

Classification According to Meleis

Afaf Ibrahim Meleis (2011), in her book  Theoretical Nursing: Development and Progress , organizes the major nurse theories and models using the following headings: needs theories, interaction theories, and outcome theories. These categories indicate the basic philosophical underpinnings of the theories.

• Needs-Based Theories. The needs theorists were the first group of nurses who thought of giving nursing care a conceptual order. Theories under this group are based on helping individuals to fulfill their physical and mental needs. Theories of Orem, Henderson, and Abdella are categorized under this group. Need theories are criticized for relying too much on the medical model of health and placing the patient in an overtly dependent position.
• Interaction Theories. These theories emphasized nursing on the establishment and maintenance of relationships. They highlighted the impact of nursing on patients and how they interact with the environment, people, and situations. Theories of King, Orlando, and Travelbee are grouped under this category.
• Outcome Theories . These theories describe the nurse as controlling and directing patient care using their knowledge of the human physiological and behavioral systems. The nursing theories of Johnson , Levine , Rogers , and Roy belong to this group.

Classification According to Alligood

In her book, Nursing Theorists and Their Work, Raile Alligood (2017) categorized nursing theories into four headings: nursing philosophy, nursing conceptual models, nursing theories and grand theories, and middle-range nursing theories.

• Nursing Philosophy . It is the most abstract type and sets forth the meaning of nursing phenomena through analysis, reasoning, and logical presentation. Works of Nightingale, Watson, Ray, and Benner are categorized under this group.
• Nursing Conceptual Models . These are comprehensive nursing theories that are regarded by some as pioneers in nursing. These theories address the nursing metaparadigm and explain the relationship between them. Conceptual models of Levine, Rogers, Roy, King, and Orem are under this group.
• Grand Nursing Theories. Are works derived from nursing philosophies, conceptual models, and other grand theories that are generally not as specific as middle-range theories. Works of Levine, Rogers, Orem, and King are some of the theories under this category.
• Middle-Range Theories. Are precise and answer specific nursing practice questions. They address the specifics of nursing situations within the model’s perspective or theory from which they are derived. Examples of Middle-Range theories are that of Mercer, Reed, Mishel, and Barker.

List of Nursing Theories and Theorists

You’ve learned from the previous sections the definition of nursing theory, its significance in nursing, and its purpose in generating a nursing knowledge base. This section will give you an overview and summary of the various published works in nursing theory (in chronological order). Deep dive into learning about the theory by clicking on the links provided for their biography and comprehensive review of their work.

See Also: Florence Nightingale: Environmental Theory and Biography

• Founder of Modern Nursing and Pioneer of the Environmental Theory. 
• Defined Nursing as “the act of utilizing the environment of the patient to assist him in his recovery.”
• Stated that nursing “ought to signify the proper use of fresh air, light, warmth, cleanliness, quiet, and the proper selection and administration of diet – all at the least expense of vital power to the patient.”
• Identified five (5) environmental factors: fresh air, pure water, efficient drainage, cleanliness or sanitation, and light or direct sunlight.

See Also: Hildegard Peplau: Interpersonal Relations Theory

• Pioneered the Theory of Interpersonal Relations
• Peplau’s theory defined Nursing as “An interpersonal process of therapeutic interactions between an individual who is sick or in need of health services and a nurse specially educated to recognize, respond to the need for help.”
• Her work is influenced by Henry Stack Sullivan, Percival Symonds, Abraham Maslow , and Neal Elgar Miller.
• It helps nurses and healthcare providers develop more therapeutic interventions in the clinical setting.

See Also: Virginia Henderson: Nursing Need Theory 

• Developed the Nursing Need Theory
• Focuses on the importance of increasing the patient’s independence to hasten their progress in the hospital.
• Emphasizes the basic human needs and how nurses can assist in meeting those needs.
• “The nurse is expected to carry out a physician’s therapeutic plan, but individualized care is the result of the nurse’s creativity in planning for care.”

See Also: Faye Glenn Abdellah: 21 Nursing Problems Theory

• Developed the 21 Nursing Problems Theory
• “Nursing is based on an art and science that molds the attitudes, intellectual competencies, and technical skills of the individual nurse into the desire and ability to help people, sick or well, cope with their health needs.”
• Changed the focus of nursing from disease-centered to patient-centered and began to include families and the elderly in nursing care.
• The nursing model is intended to guide care in hospital institutions but can also be applied to community health nursing, as well.
• Developed The Helping Art of Clinical Nursing conceptual model.
• Definition of nursing reflects on nurse-midwife experience as “People may differ in their concept of nursing, but few would disagree that nursing is nurturing or caring for someone in a motherly fashion.”
• Guides the nurse action in the art of nursing and specified four elements of clinical nursing: philosophy, purpose, practice, and art.
• Clinical nursing is focused on meeting the patient’s perceived need for help in a vision of nursing that indicates considerable importance on the art of nursing.

See Also: Lydia Hall: Care, Cure, Core Theory

• Developed the Care, Cure, Core Theory is also known  as the “ Three Cs of Lydia Hall . “
• Hall defined Nursing as the “participation in care, core and cure aspects of patient care, where CARE is the sole function of nurses, whereas the CORE and CURE are shared with other members of the health team.”
• The major purpose of care is to achieve an interpersonal relationship with the individual to facilitate the development of the core.
• The “care” circle defines a professional nurse’s primary role, such as providing bodily care for the patient. The “core” is the patient receiving nursing care. The “cure” is the aspect of nursing that involves the administration of medications and treatments.
• States in her Human-to-Human Relationship Model that the purpose of nursing was to help and support an individual, family, or community to prevent or cope with the struggles of illness and suffering and, if necessary, to find significance in these occurrences, with the ultimate goal being the presence of hope.
• Nursing was accomplished through human-to-human relationships.
• Extended the interpersonal relationship theories of Peplau and Orlando.
• Developed the Child Health Assessment Model .
• Concerns improving the health of infants and their families.
• Her findings on parent-child interaction as an important predictor of cognitive development helped shape public policy.
• She is the founder of the Nursing Child Assessment Satellite Training Project (NCAST), which produces and develops research-based products, assessment , and training programs to teach professionals, parents, and other caregivers the skills to provide nurturing environments for young children.
• Borrows from psychology and human development and focuses on mother-infant interaction with the environment.
• Contributed a close link to practice that has modified the way health care providers assess children in light of the parent-child relationship.
• Focuses on the development of models and theories on the concept of nursing.
• Includes the profession’s goal, the beneficiary of the professional service, the role of the professional, the source of the beneficiary’s difficulty, the intervention of the professional, and the consequences.
• A good example of using a unique basis of nursing for further expansion.
• A Model for Nursing Based on a Model of Living
• Logan produced a simple theory, “which actually helped bedside nurses.”
• The trio collaborated in the fourth edition of The Elements of Nursing: A Model for Nursing Based on a Model of Living and prepared a monograph entitled The Roper-Logan-Tierney Model of Nursing: Based on Activities of Daily Living.
• Includes maintaining a safe environment, communicating, breathing, eating and drinking, eliminating, personal cleansing and dressing, controlling body temperature, mobilizing, working and playing, expressing sexuality, sleeping , and dying .

See Also: Ida Jean Orlando: Nursing Process Theory

• She developed the Nursing Process Theory.
• “Patients have their own meanings and interpretations of situations, and therefore nurses must validate their inferences and analyses with patients before drawing conclusions.”
• Allows nurses to formulate an effective nursing care plan that can also be easily adapted when and if any complexity comes up with the patient.
• According to her, persons become patients requiring nursing care when they have needs for help that cannot be met independently because of their physical limitations, negative reactions to an environment, or experience that prevents them from communicating their needs.
• The role of the nurse is to find out and meet the patient’s immediate needs for help.

See Also: Jean Watson: Theory of Human Caring

• She pioneered the Philosophy and Theory of Transpersonal Caring .
• “Nursing is concerned with promoting health, preventing illness, caring for the sick, and restoring health.”
• Mainly concerns with how nurses care for their patients and how that caring progresses into better plans to promote health and wellness, prevent illness and restore health.
• Focuses on health promotion, as well as the treatment of diseases.
• Caring is central to nursing practice and promotes health better than a simple medical cure.

Marilyn Anne Ray

• Developed the Theory of Bureaucratic Caring
• “Improved patient safety , infection control , reduction in medication error s, and overall quality of care in complex bureaucratic health care systems cannot occur without knowledge and understanding of complex organizations, such as the political and economic systems, and spiritual-ethical caring, compassion and right action for all patients and professionals.”
• Challenges participants in nursing to think beyond their usual frame of reference and envision the world holistically while considering the universe as a hologram.
• Presents a different view of how health care organizations and nursing phenomena interrelate as wholes and parts in the system.
• Caring, Clinical Wisdom, and Ethics in Nursing Practice
• “The nurse-patient relationship is not a uniform, professionalized blueprint but rather a kaleidoscope of intimacy and distance in some of the most dramatic, poignant, and mundane moments of life.”
• Attempts to assert and reestablish nurses’ caring practices when nurses are rewarded more for efficiency, technical skills, and measurable outcomes.
• States that caring practices are instilled with knowledge and skill regarding everyday human needs.
• Philosophy of Caring
• “Nursing is founded on caring for life, on neighborly love, […]At the same time, the nurse must be professionally educated.”
• Human beings are created and are beings for whom we may have administrative responsibility.
• Caring, solidarity, and moral practice are unavoidable realities.
• Theory of Carative Caring
• “Caritative nursing means that we take ‘caritas’ into use when caring for the human being in health and suffering […] Caritative caring is a manifestation of the love that ‘just exists’ […] Caring communion, true caring, occurs when the one caring in a spirit of caritas alleviates the suffering of the patient.”
• The ultimate goal of caring is to lighten suffering and serve life and health.
• Inspired many in the Nordic countries and used it as the basis of research, education, and clinical practice.

See Also: Myra Estrin Levine: Conservation Model for Nursing

• According to the Conservation Model , “Nursing is human interaction.”
• Provides a framework within which to teach beginning nursing students.
• Logically congruent, externally and internally consistent, has breadth and depth, and is understood, with few exceptions, by professionals and consumers of health care.

See Also: Martha Rogers: Theory of Unitary Human Beings

• In Roger’s Theory of Human Beings , she defined Nursing as “an art and science that is humanistic and humanitarian.
• The Science of Unitary Human Beings contains two dimensions: the science of nursing, which is the knowledge specific to the field of nursing that comes from scientific research; and the art of nursing, which involves using nursing creatively to help better the lives of the patient.
• A patient can’t be separated from his or her environment when addressing health and treatment.

See Also: Dorothea E. Orem: Self-Care Theory

• In her Self-Care Theory, she defined Nursing as “The act of assisting others in the provision and management of self-care to maintain or improve human functioning at the home level of effectiveness.”
• Focuses on each individual’s ability to perform self-care.
• Composed of three interrelated theories: (1) the theory of self-care, (2) the self-care deficit theory, and (3) the theory of nursing systems, which is further classified into wholly compensatory, partially compensatory, and supportive-educative.

See Also: Imogene M. King: Theory of Goal Attainment

• Conceptual System and Middle-Range Theory of Goal Attainment
• “Nursing is a process of action, reaction and interaction by which nurse and client share information about their perception in a nursing situation” and “a process of human interactions between nurse and client whereby each perceives the other and the situation, and through communication, they set goals, explore means, and agree on means to achieve goals.”
• Focuses on this process to guide and direct nurses in the nurse-patient relationship, going hand-in-hand with their patients to meet good health goals.
• Explains that the nurse and patient go hand-in-hand in communicating information, set goals together, and then take actions to achieve those goals.

See Also: Betty Neuman: Neuman’s Systems Model

• In Neuman’s System Model , she  defined nursing as a “unique profession in that is concerned with all of the variables affecting an individual’s response to stress.”
• The focus is on the client as a system (which may be an individual, family, group, or community) and on the client’s responses to stressors.
• The client system includes five variables (physiological, psychological, sociocultural, developmental, and spiritual). It is conceptualized as an inner core (basic energy resources) surrounded by concentric circles that include lines of resistance, a normal defense line, and a flexible line of defense.

See Also: Sister Callista Roy:  Adaptation Model of Nursing

• In Adaptation Model, Roy defined nursing as a “health care profession that focuses on human life processes and patterns and emphasizes the promotion of health for individuals, families, groups, and society as a whole.”
• Views the individual as a set of interrelated systems that strives to maintain a balance between various stimuli.
• Inspired the development of many middle-range nursing theories and adaptation instruments.

See Also: Dorothy E. Johnson:  Behavioral Systems Model

• The Behavioral System Model defined Nursing as “an external regulatory force that acts to preserve the organization and integrate the patients’ behaviors at an optimum level under those conditions in which the behavior constitutes a threat to the physical or social health or in which illness is found.”
• Advocates to foster efficient and effective behavioral functioning in the patient to prevent illness and stresses the importance of research-based knowledge about the effect of nursing care on patients.
• Describes the person as a behavioral system with seven subsystems: the achievement, attachment-affiliative, aggressive-protective, dependency, ingestive, eliminative, and sexual subsystems.
• The Theory of Nursing as Caring: A Model for Transforming Practice
• Nursing is an “exquisitely interwoven” unity of aspects of the discipline and profession of nursing.
• Nursing’s focus and aim as a discipline of knowledge and a professional service are “nurturing persons living to care and growing in caring.”
• Caring in nursing is “an altruistic, active expression of love, and is the intentional and embodied recognition of value and connectedness.”
• Transitions Theory
• It began with observations of experiences faced as people deal with changes related to health, well-being, and the ability to care for themselves.
• Types of transitions include developmental, health and illness, situational, and organizational.
• Acknowledges the role of nurses as they help people go through health/illness and life transitions.
• Focuses on assisting nurses in facilitating patients’, families’, and communities’ healthy transitions.

See Also: Nola Pender: Health Promotion Model

• Health Promotion Model
• Describes the interaction between the nurse and the consumer while considering the role of the health promotion environment.
• It focuses on three areas: individual characteristics and experiences, behavior-specific cognitions and affect, and behavioral outcomes.
• Describes the multidimensional nature of persons as they interact within their environment to pursue health.

See Also:  Madeleine M. Leininger: Transcultural Nursing Theory

• Culture Care Theory of Diversity and Universality
• Defined transcultural nursing as “a substantive area of study and practice focused on comparative cultural care (caring) values, beliefs, and practices of individuals or groups of similar or different cultures to provide culture-specific and universal nursing care practices in promoting health or well-being or to help people to face unfavorable human conditions, illness, or death in culturally meaningful ways.”
• Involves learning and understanding various cultures regarding nursing and health-illness caring practices, beliefs, and values to implement significant and efficient nursing care services to people according to their cultural values and health-illness context.
• It focuses on the fact that various cultures have different and unique caring behaviors and different health and illness values, beliefs, and patterns of behaviors.
• Health as Expanding Consciousness
• “Nursing is the process of recognizing the patient in relation to the environment, and it is the process of the understanding of consciousness.”
• “The theory of health as expanding consciousness was stimulated by concern for those for whom health as the absence of disease or disability is not possible . . . “
• Nursing is regarded as a connection between the nurse and patient, and both grow in the sense of higher levels of consciousness.
• Human Becoming Theory
• “Nursing is a science, and the performing art of nursing is practiced in relationships with persons (individuals, groups, and communities) in their processes of becoming.”
• Explains that a person is more than the sum of the parts, the environment, and the person is inseparable and that nursing is a human science and art that uses an abstract body of knowledge to help people.
• It centered around three themes: meaning, rhythmicity, and transcendence.
• Modeling and Role-Modeling
• “Nursing is the holistic helping of persons with their self-care activities in relation to their health . . . The goal is to achieve a state of perceived optimum health and contentment.”
• Modeling is a process that allows nurses to understand the unique perspective of a client and learn to appreciate its importance.
• Role-modeling occurs when the nurse plans and implements interventions that are unique for the client.
• Created the Symphonological Bioethical Theory
• “Symphonology (from ‘ symphonia ,’ a Greek word meaning agreement) is a system of ethics based on the terms and preconditions of an agreement.”
• Nursing cannot occur without both nurse and patient. “A nurse takes no actions that are not interactions.”
• Founded on the singular concept of human rights, the essential agreement of non-aggression among rational people forms the foundation of all human interaction.
• Maternal Role Attainment—Becoming a Mother
• “Nursing is a dynamic profession with three major foci: health promotion and prevention of illness, providing care for those who need professional assistance to achieve their optimal level of health and functioning, and research to enhance the knowledge base for providing excellent nursing care.”
• “Nurses are the health professionals having the most sustained and intense interaction with women in the maternity cycle.”
• Maternal role attainment is an interactional and developmental process occurring over time. The mother becomes attached to her infant, acquires competence in the caretaking tasks involved in the role, and expresses pleasure and gratification. (Mercer, 1986).
• Provides proper health care interventions for nontraditional mothers for them to favorably adopt a strong maternal identity.
• Uncertainty in Illness Theory
• Presents a comprehensive structure to view the experience of acute and chronic illness and organize nursing interventions to promote optimal adjustment.
• Describes how individuals form meaning from illness-related situations.
• The original theory’s concepts were organized in a linear model around the following three major themes: Antecedents of uncertainty, Process of uncertainty appraisal, and Coping with uncertainty.
• Self-Transcendence Theory
• Self-transcendence refers to the fluctuation of perceived boundaries that extend the person (or self) beyond the immediate and constricted views of self and the world (Reed, 1997).
• Has three basic concepts: vulnerability, self-transcendence, and well-being.
• Gives insight into the developmental nature of humans associated with health circumstances connected to nursing care.
• Theory of Illness Trajectory
• “The uncertainty surrounding a chronic illness like cancer is the uncertainty of life writ large. By listening to those who are tolerating this exaggerated uncertainty, we can learn much about the trajectory of living.”
• Provides a framework for nurses to understand how cancer patients stand uncertainty manifested as a loss of control.
• Provides new knowledge on how patients and families endure uncertainty and work strategically to reduce uncertainty through a dynamic flow of illness events, treatment situations, and varied players involved in care organization.
• Theory of Chronic Sorrow
• “Chronic sorrow is the presence of pervasive grief -related feelings that have been found to occur periodically throughout the lives of individuals with chronic health conditions, their family caregivers and the bereaved.”
• This middle-range theory defines the aspect of chronic sorrow as a normal response to the ongoing disparity created by the loss.
• Barker’s Tidal Model of Mental Health Recovery is widely used in mental health nursing.
• It focuses on nursing’s fundamental care processes, is universally applicable, and is a practical guide for psychiatry and mental health nursing.
• Draws on values about relating to people and help others in their moments of distress. The values of the Tidal Model are revealed in the Ten Commitments: Value the voice, Respect the language, Develop genuine curiosity, Become the apprentice, Use the available toolkit, Craft the step beyond, Give the gift of time, Reveal personal wisdom, Know that change is constant, and Be transparent.
• Theory of Comfort
• “Comfort is an antidote to the stressors inherent in health care situations today, and when comfort is enhanced, patients and families are strengthened for the tasks ahead. Also, nurses feel more satisfied with the care they are giving.”
• Patient comfort exists in three forms: relief, ease, and transcendence. These comforts can occur in four contexts: physical, psychospiritual, environmental, and sociocultural.
• As a patient’s comfort needs change, the nurse’s interventions change, as well.
• Postpartum Depression Theory
• “The birth of a baby is an occasion for joy—or so the saying goes […] But for some women, joy is not an option.”
• Described nursing as a caring profession with caring obligations to persons we care for, students, and each other.
• Provides evidence to understand and prevent postpartum depression .
• Theory of Caring
• “Caring is a nurturing way of relating to a valued other toward whom one feels a personal sense of commitment and responsibility.”
• Defines nursing as informed caring for the well-being of others.
• Offers a structure for improving up-to-date nursing practice, education, and research while bringing the discipline to its traditional values and caring-healing roots.
• Peaceful End-of-Life Theory
• The focus was not on death itself but on providing a peaceful and meaningful living in the time that remained for patients and their significant others.
• The purpose was to reflect the complexity involved in caring for terminally ill patients.
• Also known as Wanda Horta, she introduced the concepts of nursing that are accepted in Brazil.
• Wrote the book Nursing Process which presents relevance to the various fields of Nursing practice for providing a holistic view of the patient.
• Her work was recognized in all the teaching institutions called the Theory of Basic Human Needs . It is based on Maslow’s Theory of Human Motivation, whose primary concept is the hierarchy of Basic Human Needs (BHN).
• Horta’s Theory of Basic Human Needs is considered the highest point of her work, and the summary of all her research concludes sickness as a science and art of assisting a human being in meeting basic human needs, making the patient independent of this assistance through education in recovery, maintenance, and health promotion.
• Classified basic human needs into three main dimensions – psychobiological, psychosocial and psychospiritual – and establishes a relationship between the concepts of human being, environment, and nursing.
• The theory describes nursing as an element of a healthcare team and states that it can function efficiently through a scientific method. Horta referred this method as the nursing process .
• She defined the nursing process as the dynamics of systematic and interrelated actions to assist human beings. It is characterized by six phases: nursing history, nursing diagnosis , assistance plan, care plan or nursing prescription, evolution, and prognosis.

Recommended books and resources to learn more about nursing theory:

Disclosure: Included below are affiliate links from Amazon at no additional cost from you. We may earn a small commission from your purchase. For more information, check out our privacy policy .

• Nursing Theorists and Their Work (10th Edition) by Alligood Nursing Theorists and Their Work, 10th Edition provides a clear, in-depth look at nursing theories of historical and international significance. Each chapter presents a key nursing theory or philosophy, showing how systematic theoretical evidence can enhance decision making, professionalism, and quality of care.
• Knowledge Development in Nursing: Theory and Process (11th Edition) Use the five patterns of knowing to help you develop sound clinical judgment. This edition reflects the latest thinking in nursing knowledge development and adds emphasis to real-world application. The content in this edition aligns with the new 2021 AACN Essentials for Nursing Education.
• Nursing Knowledge and Theory Innovation, Second Edition: Advancing the Science of Practice (2nd Edition) This text for graduate-level nursing students focuses on the science and philosophy of nursing knowledge development. It is distinguished by its focus on practical applications of theory for scholarly, evidence-based approaches. The second edition features important updates and a reorganization of information to better highlight the roles of theory and major philosophical perspectives.
• Nursing Theories and Nursing Practice (5th Edition) The only nursing research and theory book with primary works by the original theorists. Explore the historical and contemporary theories that are the foundation of nursing practice today. The 5th Edition, continues to meet the needs of today’s students with an expanded focus on the middle range theories and practice models.
• Strategies for Theory Construction in Nursing (6th Edition) The clearest, most useful introduction to theory development methods. Reflecting vast changes in nursing practice, it covers advances both in theory development and in strategies for concept, statement, and theory development. It also builds further connections between nursing theory and evidence-based practice.
• Middle Range Theory for Nursing (4th Edition) This nursing book’s ability to break down complex ideas is part of what made this book a three-time recipient of the AJN Book of the Year award. This edition includes five completely new chapters of content essential for nursing books. New exemplars linking middle range theory to advanced nursing practice make it even more useful and expand the content to make it better.
• Nursing Research: Methods and Critical Appraisal for Evidence-Based Practice This book offers balanced coverage of both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies. This edition features new content on trending topics, including the Next-Generation NCLEX® Exam (NGN).
• Nursing Research (11th Edition) AJN award-winning authors Denise Polit and Cheryl Beck detail the latest methodologic innovations in nursing, medicine, and the social sciences. The updated 11th Edition adds two new chapters designed to help students ensure the accuracy and effectiveness of research methods. Extensively revised content throughout strengthens students’ ability to locate and rank clinical evidence.

Recommended site resources related to nursing theory:

• Nursing Theories and Theorists: The Definitive Guide for Nurses MUST READ! In this guide for nursing theories, we aim to help you understand what comprises a nursing theory and its importance, purpose, history, types or classifications, and give you an overview through summaries of selected nursing theories.

Other resources related to nursing theory:

• Betty Neuman: Neuman Systems Model
• Dorothea Orem: Self-Care Deficit Theory
• Dorothy Johnson: Behavioral System Model
• Faye Abdellah: 21 Nursing Problems Theory
• Florence Nightingale: Environmental Theory
• Hildegard Peplau: Interpersonal Relations Theory
• Ida Jean Orlando: Deliberative Nursing Process Theory
• Imogene King: Theory of Goal Attainment
• Jean Watson: Theory of Human Caring
• Lydia Hall: Care, Cure, Core Nursing Theory
• Madeleine Leininger: Transcultural Nursing Theory
• Martha Rogers: Science of Unitary Human Beings
• Myra Estrin Levine: The Conservation Model of Nursing
• Nola Pender: Health Promotion Model
• Sister Callista Roy: Adaptation Model of Nursing
• Virginia Henderson: Nursing Need Theory

Suggested readings and resources for this study guide :

• Alligood, M., & Tomey, A. (2010). Nursing theorists and their work, seventh edition (No ed.). Maryland Heights: Mosby-Elsevier.
• Alligood, M. R. (2017).  Nursing Theorists and Their Work-E-Book . Elsevier Health Sciences.
• Barnard, K. E. (1984). Nursing research related to infants and young children. In  Annual review of nursing research  (pp. 3-25). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
• Brown, H. I. (1979).  Perception, theory, and commitment: The new philosophy of science . University of Chicago Press. [ Link ]
• Brown M (1964) Research in the development of nursing theory: the importance of a theoretical framework in nursing research. Nursing Research.
• Camacho, A. C. L. F., & Joaquim, F. L. (2017). Reflections based on Wanda Horta on the basic instruments of nursing. Rev Enferm UFPE [Internet], 11(12), 5432-8.
• Chinn, P. L., & Jacobs, M. K. (1978). A model for theory development in nursing.  Advances in Nursing Science ,  1 (1), 1-12. [ Link ]
• Colley, S. (2003). Nursing theory: its importance to practice. Nursing Standard (through 2013), 17(46), 33. [ Link ]
• Fawcett, J. (2005). Criteria for evaluation of theory. Nursing science quarterly, 18(2), 131-135. [ Link ]
• Fitzpatrick, J. J., & Whall, A. L. (Eds.). (1996).  Conceptual models of nursing: Analysis and application . Connecticut, Norwalk: Appleton & Lange.
• Kaplan, A. (2017).  The conduct of inquiry: Methodology for behavioural science . Routledge. [ Link ]
• Meleis, A. I. (2011).  Theoretical nursing: Development and progress . Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
• Neuman, B. M., & Fawcett, J. (2002). The Neuman systems model.
• Nightingale F (1860) Notes on Nursing. New York NY, Appleton.
• Perão, O. F., Zandonadi, G. C., Rodríguez, A. H., Fontes, M. S., Nascimento, E. L. P., & Santos, E. K. A. (2017). Patient safety in an intensive care unit according to Wanda Horta’s theory. Cogitare Enfermagem, 22(3), e45657.
• Peplau H (1988) The art and science of nursing: similarities, differences, and relations. Nursing Science Quarterly
• Rogers M (1970) An Introduction to the Theoretical Basis of Nursing. Philadelphia PA, FA Davis.

47 thoughts on “Nursing Theories and Theorists: The Definitive Guide for Nurses”

Great work indeed

Amazing and simple post I have ever come across about nursing theories.

Thank you for the simplicity

where do i find the reference page in apa format?

The reference listed below the article is in APA format.

i love this. insightful. Comprehensive ,Well researched .

Thank you for these theories they are a life saver and simplified. My school require us to write about 2 nursing theorist from memory for a Comprehensive exam in which if you do not pass it you are required to wait for a year to retake the exam.

Merci beaucoup, puisque je suis très satisfait.

I’m pleased to congratulate you about your work! I really appreciate it! From: Cameroon

An entire’s semester worth of a nursing theory class, expertly and succinctly summarized in one paper. I wish my instructor were as easy to understand. Good work.

I thought this was in a chronological order based on their published works date? Then why Orlando’s theory comes at the later part? Can someone englighten me please because I am making a timeline for our project.

Great job. Very clear and succinct.

I like it. Well explained!

easy to understand and very helpful

thankyou very much.

The article was beneficial to me to understand nursing theories

This is amazing and I love it so enriching!

Thanks for the article may God bless you more Plus More Power and Protection

Thanks so much

Please can someone help me with a nursing theory related to “teamwork” please

Thank you so much !

I loved the text and saw that the nursing theorist Wanda Aguiar Horta, a Brazilian nurse and great theorist regarding basic human needs, was not included.

I suggest reviewing and including it to be more complete.

If you need, I can help with inclusion!

Best Regards

Hi João Carlos, we’d love to hear about her work. Please send us the details via our contact page: https://nurseslabs.com/contact/

Excellent study guide! Detailed, Informative and Valued! Thank you!

hi can someone help me which theorist can relate in Ear, Nose, Throat nursing care.

Wonderful contribution of shared knowledge- now how do we get the word out for nurses that are not able to afford a BSN?

Thanks for the work. It’s very helpful

This has helped me understand theories a bit better, however, there is one that is eluding me. Where does the normative theory fit in?

very educative.I have understood theories more than before.Thanks

hard work. great work in deed

I love reading your material, plain concise and easy

Very informative, more knowledgeable about the theorist

Thank you for your information. This material is great and when I have looked for material for nursing theory. I got is material with complete

A big hand of applause 👏🏿 This is a treasure for nurses of the world. Thank you so much

Hi G. ALex,

Wow, thanks for the awesome feedback! 😊 Super glad you found it to be a treasure. Just curious, was there a particular section that stood out to you or something you’d love to see more of? Always keen to hear what resonates with fellow nurses!

This is really hard work put together in a very easy to understand way.Thank you so much.It came handy

Hi Sigala, Thanks a ton for noticing the effort! 😊 Super happy to hear it came in handy for you. If you ever have suggestions or topics you’d like to see, give me a shout. Cheers to making things understandable!

Absolutely helpful. Thank you.

So glad to hear the nursing theories guide was a hit for you! 😊 If you have any other topics or questions in mind, just give a shout. Always here to help. Keep rocking your studies! Thanks Ishe!

Am happy, to read these theories, very educating. Am going to make use of it when caring for my patients. GREAT NURSES GREAT! I LOVE YOU ALL.

Hi Eboh, I’m thrilled to hear you’re excited about applying these nursing theories in practice! They can really enhance the care we provide. It’s all about putting that knowledge to good use. By the way, which theory resonated with you the most, or which do you see being most applicable in your day-to-day patient care?

How do I relate one of the theories to effective management of intravenous lines? Which theory and how to relate to the above?

Hi wanted to ask you who wrote this page who is the autor because i need to write them on footnotes and i can’t find autor of the page,neither the year it was published. Thank you. Btw this article was really helpful i never understood nursing theories this good.

Hey there Innaya, I’m glad to hear the article on nursing theories was so helpful to you! Here’s how you can cite it in APA format:

Vera, M. (2019, September 11). Nursing Theories and Theorists: The Definitive Guide for Nurses Nurseslabs. https://nurseslabs.com/nursing-theories/

If you need any more help with citations or have other questions, feel free to ask. Happy to assist!

Please is there an app I could download all these from?

Hi Felicia, Thanks for your interest! As of now, we don’t have a dedicated app for downloading our content. However, our website is mobile-friendly, so you can easily access all our resources from your smartphone or tablet browser.

wonderful insights, and very precise and easy to understand, I even got to know and learn about other new theorists of Nursing I didn’t know before.

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Nursing Essay Examples

Nursing Essay Examples That Will Help You Write a Stellar Paper

Published on: May 6, 2023

Last updated on: Jan 29, 2024

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Many nursing students struggle with writing effective nursing essays, which are an essential part of their education and professional development.

Poor essay writing skills can lead to low grades and an inability to effectively communicate important information.

This blog provides a comprehensive guide to writing nursing essays with examples and tips for effective writing. Whether you are a nursing student or a professional looking to improve your writing skills, this blog has something for you. 

By following the tips and examples provided, you can write compelling nursing essays that showcase your dedication to the field.

Let’s get started.

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What is a Nursing Essay?

A nursing essay is a type of academic writing that aims to explore a particular topic related to nursing. It also presents a clear and concise argument or viewpoint supported by evidence. 

Nursing essays can take many forms, including:

• Descriptive essays
• Reflective essays
• Analytical essays
• Persuasive essays

What is the Importance of the Nursing Essay?

Nursing essays are important for several reasons. First, they help nursing students develop critical thinking skills by requiring them to analyze and evaluate information.

Second, they help students develop research skills by requiring them to locate and use credible sources to support their arguments. 

Third, nursing essays help students develop communication skills by requiring them to present their ideas clearly and concisely in writing. Finally, nursing essays are important for nursing education because they prepare students for the types of writing.

Paper Due? Why Suffer? That's our Job!

To help students better understand how to write nursing essays, it can be helpful to review examples.

Below are some examples of nursing essays.

Nursing School Essay Examples

College Nursing Essay Examples

Graduate Nursing Essay Examples

Nursing Scholarship Essay Examples

Nursing Essay Conclusion Examples

Nursing Essay Examples of Different Fields

Nursing is a diverse field with many different specialties and areas of focus. As a result, nursing essays can take many different forms and cover a wide range of topics. 

Given below are some examples of different types of nursing essays:

Personal Philosophy Of Nursing - Essay Examples

Cal State Fullerton Nursing Essay Examples

Evidence Based Practice Nursing In Medical Field - Essay Examples

Leadership In Nursing And Healthcare Professionals - Essay Examples

Principles Of Professional Practice Of Nursing Professionals And Pharmacists

If you're seeking additional examples of nursing essays, you're in luck! 

Below are some more examples that can help you gain a better understanding of nursing essays:

Health Care And Reflective Models For Nursing - Essay Examples

History Of Nursing Essay Examples

Ethical Dilemma In Nurses Work - Essay Examples

Mental Health Nursing Essay Examples

Why I Want To Be A Nurse Essay

Working In A Team And Collaboration In Nursing

How to Write a Nursing Essay

Writing a nursing essay can seem daunting, but with the right approach, it can be a rewarding experience.

Here are the key steps involved in writing a nursing essay:

Understanding the Topic and Question

The first step in writing a nursing essay is to carefully read and understand the topic and question. 

This will help you determine what information you need to research and include in your essay. Make sure you understand any key terms or concepts related to the topic. Consider different perspectives or viewpoints that may be relevant.

Researching the Topic

Once you have a clear understanding of the topic and question, it's time to research. 

Start by gathering information from credible sources such as academic journals, textbooks, and government websites. 

Consider both primary and secondary sources, and make sure to take detailed notes as you read.

Organizing and Outlining the Essay

Once you have completed your research, it's time to organize your ideas and create an outline for your essay. 

Start by identifying the main points or arguments you want to make, and then organize them into a logical order that flows well. 

Your outline should include an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Writing the Essay

With your outline in place, it's time to start writing your essay. Make sure to follow your outline closely, and use clear and concise language that effectively communicates your ideas. 

Use evidence from your research to support your arguments, and cite your sources appropriately.

Editing and Revising the Essay

Once you have completed a first draft of your essay, take some time to edit and revise it. Look for any errors in grammar, spelling, or punctuation, and make sure your essay is well-organized and flows well. 

Consider asking a peer or instructor to review your essay and provide feedback.

What To Include In Your Nursing Essay

When writing a nursing essay, there are several key elements that you should include. Here are some important things to keep in mind:

• Introduction

Your introduction should provide a brief overview of the topic and purpose of your essay. It should also include a clear thesis statement that presents your main argument or point of view.

• Background Information

Provide some background information on the topic to help the reader better understand the context of your essay. This can include relevant statistics, historical information, or other contextual details.

• Evidence and Examples

Use evidence and examples from your research to support your arguments and demonstrate your knowledge of the topic. Make sure to cite your sources appropriately and use a variety of sources to strengthen your argument.

• Analysis and Evaluation

Provide analysis and evaluation of the evidence and examples you've presented. This can include discussing strengths and weaknesses, comparing and contrasting different viewpoints, or offering your own perspective on the topic.

Your conclusion should summarize the main points of your essay and restate your thesis statement. It should also offer some final thoughts or suggestions for further research or action.

Nursing Essay Topic Ideas

Choosing a topic for your nursing essay can be challenging, but there are many areas in the field that you can explore. Here are some nursing essay topic ideas to consider:

• The role of technology in nursing practice
• The impact of cultural diversity on healthcare delivery
• Nursing leadership and management in healthcare organizations
• Ethical issues in nursing practice
• The importance of patient-centered care in nursing practice
• The impact of evidence-based practice on nursing care
• The role of nursing in promoting public health
• Nursing education and the importance of lifelong learning
• The impact of nursing shortages on healthcare delivery
• The importance of communication in nursing practice

These are just a few ideas to get you started. You can also explore other topics related to nursing that interest you or align with your academic or professional goals. 

Remember to choose a topic that is relevant, interesting, and feasible to research and write about.

Tips for Writing an Effective Nursing Essay

Writing a successful nursing essay requires careful planning, research, and attention to detail. Here are some tips to help you write an effective nursing essay:

• Writing Concisely and Clearly

Nursing essays should be written in clear and concise language, avoiding unnecessary jargon or technical terms. Use simple language and short sentences to help ensure that your ideas are communicated clearly and effectively.

• Stating a Clear Thesis Statement

Your thesis statement should clearly state your main argument and provide a roadmap for the rest of your essay. It should be clear, concise, and located at the end of your introduction.

• Using Proper Citation and Referencing

Citing and referencing your sources is crucial in any academic writing, including nursing essays. Make sure to use proper citation and referencing styles, such as APA or MLA. Include a reference list or bibliography at the end of your essay.

• Seeking Feedback and Revising

Before submitting your nursing essay, seek feedback from peers, professors, or writing tutors. Use their feedback to revise and improve your essay. Make sure that it is well-structured, coherent, and effectively communicates your point of view.

By following these tips, you can write a nursing essay that demonstrates your knowledge and skills in the field.

In conclusion, writing a successful nursing essay requires careful planning, research, and attention to detail. 

To showcase your knowledge in the field of nursing, it is important to have a clear understanding of the topic at hand. When writing your nursing essay, be sure to include relevant examples, incorporate current research, and use proper citation and referencing. 

And remember , seeking feedback and revising your essay is key to ensuring that it effectively communicates your ideas and arguments.

If you need help with your nursing essay or any other type of academic writing, consider using our AI essay writer . 

Our nursing essay writing service can provide personalized support to help you succeed in your academic goals.

So, why wait? Contact us to get college essay writing help today! 

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How to Write an Admission Essay for Nursing School

The nursing school admission process is rigorous. One of the critical requirements for new applicants is an application essay, and writing a compelling nursing essay will give you a major head start over other nursing school candidates.

Once you have figured out why you want to be a nurse, all your memories, accomplishments, ambitions, and goals will align. Therefore, writing an essay on why you are interested in becoming a nurse and selecting a specific nursing college or university allows the admissions team to understand why they should choose you over other candidates.

A well-written, organized, and polished nursing school essay automatically increases your chances of acceptance. With thousands of applications destined for assessment and judgment by the admissions committee, you would want to make your application essay for the nursing school admission stand out.

We have admission essay-writing experts and consultants who, luckily, have compiled this intensive guide to help you write an intentional, focused, and perfect essay for nursing school.

Note: If you are in a hurry or you need direct assistance in writing your nursing college essay, please place an order and let our expert essay writers craft for you an original, engaging, and compelling nursing essay!

What Is a Nursing School Essay?

A nursing school essay is a written piece that demonstrates your interest in a nursing career and elaborates why you are the perfect fit for a specific nursing program.

Most nursing schools (colleges and universities) require aspiring students to write an application essay for nursing school admission. It is a personal essay submitted as part of the application process, which the admission officers review to determine if you can be accepted.

A good nursing school essay shows your interest in the nursing field, your chosen career path, why you want to pursue your nursing education through a specific nursing school program, and why you believe you should be accepted into the institution. It has to show why the entire process is crucial to you and why you are a worthy candidate to select for the nursing school program.

Sometimes, it is the only hope one has left, especially if the competition is stiff. Imagine a situation where the application materials such as grades, resumes, test scores, or recommendation letters are all qualified; a nursing school essay will be the only means to select the best out of the rest fairly.

Writing a perfect nursing essay will demonstrate that you are ready to go down the thorny path of training to become a nurse. Nursing education entails research and writing assignments, and a well-written essay demonstrates your readiness.

Helpful Information to Include in a Nursing Admission Essay

You are probably wondering what goes into an application essay for nursing school admission. Well, your nursing essay will answer an essay prompt from the university. Most colleges will specify the essay questions for college of nursing applicants for various levels of study (MSN, DNP, BSN, Ph.D., or ADN).

Below are some examples of what might be expected:

• Your goals and ambitions for a successful nursing career
• How do you plan to achieve your academic goals
• The specific reasons why you want to join the nursing field
• Reasons you are selecting the particular nursing school or program
• Personal accomplishments that set you apart as the right candidate
• Experiences and encounters that make you love nursing career
• Plans for the future once accepted
• Experience with medical training or patient care
• Character traits aligned to being a nurse
• How you are prepared to become a successful nurse
• Academic, personal, and career interests
• Any other reasons to convince the admissions committee to approve your admission

In some quarters, a nursing school application essay might be a statement of purpose, personal essay, or letter of intent. It is a chance to plead with the admissions committee to accept you into your dream nursing college or program. Having looked at what goes into it, it is also essential to cover the steps to writing a perfect and comprehensive admission essay for nursing school.

Structure of a Nursing School Essay

A nursing essay for admission into a nursing program or school follows the typical format of an academic essay. It is organized into three main sections: introduction, body, and conclusion.

Introduction

• This is the opening paragraph that has to impress your readers (admissions officers)
• It can make or break your admission essay or personal statement
• It should be direct to the point
• It is a roadmap that helps the readers to know what to expect as your story grows.
• Open it using an enticing quote, event, anecdote, or statement
• You are allowed to use personal pronouns such as I in the introduction and the rest of the essay
• It has 2- 3 and sometimes five paragraphs
• Elaborates the introduction
• Every paragraph has a unique opening sentence that is a mini-thesis statement.
• Bears the best ideas yielded in your brainstorming session
• It can be as long as your word limit allows but contributes to at least 70-80% of the word count
• Focuses on quality over quantity
• Has one idea or experience per paragraph
• You should mention the skills you intend to develop and how they will help you become a successful nurse
• Connect the skills and experiences to the program and your future career
• Summarize and emphasize the main ideas
• It should be captivating and insightful
• Conveys a sense of closure to the readers
• Invites the readers to reflect on the ideas in your essay
• Creates one last lasting impression on the readers

Outline for a Nursing School Essay

A good nursing school essay outline should give you directions that help you visualize what the essay will look like in its final draft.

If you are writing a nursing essay, having the outline is the first thing you do after brainstorming (as shown in the steps).

It helps you to figure out how to arrange the ideas and points in the essay for a better flow. You can develop each section independently, regardless of the sequence, and still have a quality essay. 

In most cases, the outline is meant for personal consumption, especially when writing a personal statement. However, if you are writing a nursing essay on a given nursing topic , you might be required to write an outline, annotated bibliography , and the nursing essay , and each will be graded separately.

Given the structure, you can outline your nursing school essay as follows:

    Introduction paragraph

• Hook (quote, statement, or anecdote)
• Background information
• Thesis statement
• Transition sentence

    Body paragraph 1

• Topic sentence
• Evidence, data, and facts
• Transition to the second body paragraph

    Body paragraph 2

• Transition to the third body paragraph

    Body paragraph 3

• Transition to the conclusion

    Conclusion

• Summary of the main ideas
• Restate the thesis statement
• Last impression (call to action to the admissions committee)

Steps for Writing a Nursing School Essay

Optimizing your application essay increases your chance of getting accepted into the nursing program or nursing school. The essay should elaborate on your person (who you are as an individual) by providing a comprehensive perspective of your career ambitions, goals, and plans related to your passion for nursing. You should elaborate to the admissions committee why you are a good fit for their nursing program. Students at the ADN, BSN, ABSN (Accelerated BSN), MSN, DNP, or Ph.D. might be required to write an admission or personal essay, and here are the five steps to make it successful.

• Read the prompt
• Brainstorm for ideas
• Plan your essay
• Write the first draft
• Edit and Polish your Essay

Let's explore all these steps before delving into the tips to help you write the essay better.

Read the Prompt

If you are considering applying to a specific nursing school, you need to begin by researching the application process to know when you will be expected to submit your application essay.

In most cases, the nursing schools have essay prompts and instructions for the potential nursing candidates published on their websites. The prompts might vary depending on the programs you are interested in pursuing and the institutional preferences. Therefore, it is vital to begin by locating the nursing school essay guidelines. A quick search online can help, or you will also find it enclosed in the email sent to you by the school's admissions committee.

Read the instructions thoroughly with a specific focus on the essay question, word limit, and topics you must cover. If you apply to many nursing schools, you should locate and read each prompt before moving to the next steps.

Reading and understanding the instructions is the first step in writing an excellent application essay. Besides, it helps you to customize the essay to the requirements and not the other way around.

Brainstorm for Ideas

Now that you know what is expected of you, you need to decide what to include in your nursing essay to make it stand out. For this, get into an idea-generation marathon where you brainstorm ideas based on the prompt and the requirements.

Give every idea a thoughtful consideration and make shorthand notes so that you have all the ideas condensed. Consider your ambitions, accomplishments, drive, passion, preferences, strengths, weaknesses, character traits, and other attributes that might relate to your urge to pursue nursing as a career.

Also, research the nursing program and relate it to your personal ambitions and desires. Such information will help you spot the specific things you like about it. You can then tailor your experiences and encounters to the requirements. Look at the program's website and examine 2-3 aspects that stand out. This will help you focus on what you have that makes you the best pick for the program. You can also reference experiences, events, or traits related to the program.

Consider the environment and people around you and relate them to your desire to become a nurse.

Experiences, encounters, and events can inspire ideas to pen into your nursing school essay.

You can also research some well-written examples of nursing personal statements and essays to get inspired when brainstorming ideas for yours. Besides, you can also ask people in your network, such as family, friends, or peers, for ideas that can stand out and then choose the best.

To get the most robust ideas, rate them depending on how best they answer the prompt; this is the fodder for the entire application essay. Choose 3-5 strongest points and make them the central focus of your essay.

Plan your Essay

As a nurse, planning is everything, even when it comes to clinical decision-making. And because you are destined for this noble career, planning your personal essay won't hurt. Instead, it helps you know what to put and where to engage the admission officers from the beginning to the end of your nursing school essay.

With the ideas in mind, create a rough outline and adjust it until you are fully satisfied that your thoughts, facts, and opinions are well-organized. The outline will help you to structure your essay, avoid derailing it, and write a draft that bears all the quality ideas.

A good step is to organize the essay into paragraphs that align with the word count (often given as the minimum or maximum number of words, exact number of words, or characters).

Include an introduction to give your readers a clear understanding of the focus of your essay. Yes, a good nursing essay has a thesis statement that shows your central claim or the main idea you are focusing on the entire essay.

You should include the body paragraphs, each with a topic sentence supporting the thesis and a series of supporting facts such as examples, evidence, and illustration.

Finally, include a conclusion as the last paragraph that reverberates the thesis, summarizes the essay, and has a call to action to the admissions committee.

Write the First Draft

After the outline, you must begin writing your essay sentence by sentence and paragraph after paragraph. Whatever approach you take, ensure that every detail covered in the outline ends up in your essay as long as it is valid.

Write the introduction paragraph by giving a hook or attention grabber. You can begin with a quote from a famous nurse or a scholarly nursing article. You can also state facts or give statistics if they matter to your application. You should also elaborate on your selected topic, especially if the prompt provides options. End your first paragraph with a thesis statement that describes the focus of your nursing school essay. The introduction should account for 10-15% of the word count.

Each body paragraph has a unique, unmistakable, and concise topic sentence followed by supporting details and a concluding sentence that transitions to the next paragraph. Ensure that you have at least two body paragraphs considering that you can write either a three-paragraph or a five-paragraph nursing essay. Collectively, the body section should be 70-80% of the essay's word count. The body paragraphs should outline your encounters, experiences, and events and how they relate to the specific nursing program.

The final part is the conclusion, where you summarize the main ideas in the essay. for this, avoid the clich� conclusion starters such as "in conclusion," "to sum up," or "in summary." Instead, use conclusion opening sentences that demonstrate to your reader that the essay has ended � it gives the best closure and helps close the information loop in your essay. Rephrase your thesis and summarize the main ideas before appealing to the admissions committee to accept you into their nursing program. It should be 10-15% of the word count, like the introduction paragraph.

Edit and Polish the Essay

Now that you are done with your first draft, it is only the beginning, and you are far from being done. You need to take a break to cool down your frustrations, anxiety, and adrenaline developed when writing. It is a chance to establish an objective mind to look at things from a broader perspective when you settle for editing and proofreading.

If you are not good with editing and proofreading, you can hire a professional proofreading and editing expert to look at your essay and suggest changes to make. You can also use friends and family as a second and third eye to see what you cannot see. Using their feedback will help you optimize the essay for better results. You can incorporate the suggestions and proceed to editing and proofreading.

As for editing and proofreading, you can take advantage of tools such as Grammarly, Ginger, Hemingway Editor, and other editing and proofreading tools available by students and professionals. Revise the essay until it meets the requirements and addresses the prompt. If anything, do not be afraid to do away with an entire paragraph or a few paragraphs that don't make sense.

It is better to start over again than submit a subpar nursing school essay that will be a laughingstock of the admissions committee. The only way to entertain the admissions officers is to write an outstanding nursing school essay that will automatically dial you into the nursing program of your choice. Best of luck!

Example of Nursing School Essay Prompts

• Discuss your interest and understanding of the clinical nurse leader role. What's your story? And what experiences have contributed to your interest?
• The DNP program aims to prepare nurse leaders at the highest level of nursing practice to improve patient outcomes and translate research into practice. Describe experiences that exhibit your formal leadership role or informal leadership skills.
• How will the program help you achieve your academic and career goals?
• What experiences have influenced your interest in pursuing a clinical specialty you have chosen?
• The DNP program aims to prepare nurse leaders at the highest level of nursing practice to improve patient outcomes and translate research into practice. Describe experiences that exhibit your leadership skills.
• Why have you chosen to pursue a nursing research doctorate?
• How does becoming a nurse fulfill your ambitions?
• What does becoming a nurse mean to you?
• What drives you to become a nurse?
• Why do you want to become a nurse?
• What is your nursing philosophy?
• What was your reason for choosing nursing as a career? Do you have any additional information that you would like the admissions committee to know about you that has not been previously considered in the application?
• What are your professional goals? How will this accelerated nursing program help you materialize those goals?
• Discuss a specific leadership position (e.g., manager, director, associate dean) you wish to attain within three to five years after completing the DNP program.

Note: Some of these prompts have been rephrased from the Rush University Website . They keep changing depending on the preferences of the admissions committee. Inquire with your university or college of nursing to get specific directions on the most current prompts and instructions.

Related Reading: Ideas for a nursing capstone project.

Tips for Writing an Effective Nursing School Admission Essay

When grades, test scores, and other material entries don't count , a nursing school essay, referred to as a personal statement, suffices. In this case, a great nursing school can only be your hope for getting into nursing school. If you want to get ahead of the competition, these proven tips will significantly help you.

1. Plan Well

To pen an excellent nursing school essay that gets you accepted, you need to plan the essay.

Read the instructions, brainstorm as you take notes, research widely, and create an outline.

And even when done, the purpose is to have a reverse outline to help you score the essay against the requirements. Planning helps you to know what attention-grabbing statement to begin the essay with, the sequence of the body paragraph ideas for a logical flow, and what specifics to include in the conclusion.

Having an outline will help you save time when writing the first draft and help you to stay focused when writing.

2. Show, Don't Tell!

All effective nursing school essays express your personality, experiences, and encounters while convincing the admissions officers that you are the best fit for the program.

You should not focus on telling your story alone. Instead, show how your account relates to the prompt.

Discuss experiences, encounters, and events but show how they have impacted your choice of the program and desire to become a nurse.

If you are applying to a specific program, enlighten your readers on why you are specifically interested in the program and what that means.

It could be the hybrid learning model that entails both online and classroom learning or the history or reputation the school has, parental preferences (if they were a graduate), mentor recommendation, etc.

3. Choose Information Wisely

Ensure that every idea or information in your essay is unique, authentic, and original. Don't just write fictitiously.

If you have no past experiences directly related to nursing, you can introduce them and twist them to fit the context.

Impress the admissions committee with your wits, not just a summary of what others have written online.

Standing out in your presentation of facts will always carry the day. Genuinely share your story about what made you want to become a nurse.

4. Avoid Excuses

Even if you don't have appealing past encounters with medicine, hospitals, or anything related to nursing, tell your story as it is.

Do not excuse yourself for telling the truth. After all, you are on your journey to becoming a nurse; all you are seeking is training to develop the knowledge and skills.

If you have cared for your family members at home, babysat your siblings, or have compassion for the suffering, these are the most authentic stories you have, and they can spell meaning on your ambition. Therefore, prove your strong candidature by stating things as they are without clutching at things that do not matter.

5. Let it Flow!

Instead of forcing things such as humor or stories, write plainly about your experiences, encounters, and past events that made you want to become a nurse.

Most "why I want to be a nurse" essays don't have to have any humor. If it clicks well and is good, if it doesn't, don't force it.

As well, avoid exaggerating things when writing your nursing school essay. You should focus on making it as interesting, engaging, and convincing as can be but be truthful.

Avoid mixing up stories. A good way is to focus each paragraph on the main point that relates to your thesis.

6. Show you care about People and Yourself

Nursing is a noble career that entails caring for oneself as you care for others. Your full-time attention and job will be to care for people to help them achieve better health outcomes.

You must show empathy, selflessness, and determination to be a nurse. You can bring examples of when you took care of others and yourself.

Let the committee know that even when training as a nurse, you understand self-care as much as you understand caring for others.

7. Bring in Current Issues

If there is a chance that you can introduce nursing concepts or ideas from current events, it will beef up your nursing school essays.

Get facts from well-established nursing organization websites such as the American Nurses Association, National League of Nursing, Emergency Nurses Association, Sigma Theta Tau, or National Black Nurses Association, etc.

Intrigue your readers by understanding the challenges and opportunities in the nursing field.

You can relate your application to nursing shortages, medical errors, nursing burnout, continuing education, evidence-based practice, etc.

8. Briefly Explain your Qualifications

Since you have already provided material such as transcripts, resumes, and test scores, it is imperative to briefly expound on the qualifications without going into details. Tell them about your experiences, your education, and how you have set yourself up for success in nursing school . For instance, elaborate on how volunteering and internships helped you develop a sense of becoming a nurse or how they developed skills you will apply in nursing school.

9. Share your plans

Everybody has plans. You have short, medium, and long-term goals as you prepare to enter nursing school. You should include them in your essay and demonstrate how the program or school will help you achieve them. Admission officers are always wowed by hearing about goals, especially if they relate to their schools or programs. As you do this, be very specific with the goals and how you intend to achieve them.

All set, but before You Go �

As you contemplate entering nursing school, you must understand that it will never be a walk in the park. There is so much to learn within the specified time frame, and you must show your preparedness. A nursing school personal essay is one of the ways to do so.

Related Article:

• Writing a nursing philosophy ( a student's guide)
• Writing a nursing student resume (a guide)

Lucky for you, our nursing admission essay writers have shared insights, tips, and steps that can help you write an exceptional application essay for any nursing school or program. If you follow them, you will write a seamless admission essay that increases your chances of getting into the nursing school of your dreams.

We wish you luck in your endeavors and promise that were available in case you need a well-written, organized, and plagiarism-free admission essay tailored to your experiences and the specific nursing school or program requirements.

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Nursing education in the path of globalization: Promotion or challenge?

Safoura dorri.

School of Nursing and Midwifery, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

1 Department of Medical-Surgical Nursing, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

Nooredin Mohammadi

2 Department of Critical Care Nursing, Nursing Care Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Globalization has been attracted by great literature and papers of many disciplines in recent years. Although globalization has considerable social, political, and economic effects, it has turned to an important challenge in health-care systems. Nursing, as the largest part of the health system in the world, has also been affected by globalization. The purpose of the present paper is to critique globalization and its impacts on the nursing profession. This review article was conducted by searching for reliable internet resources in the English language on the impact of globalization on nursing. Published articles were searched until 2018, and related articles were extracted in three stages: 1-selection of articles by reading abstract, 2-selection with an overview of the text, and 3-selection with a full review of the article's text. According to the literature of globalization, we categorize and discuss the nursing areas that are affected by globalization in nine areas: global nursing development, nurses emigration,information interchange and interactions in nursing, higher education in nursing, professional territory, nursing specialization, professional ethics, management and supervision, and professional independence. The intensity of globalization effects on the nursing profession has not been the same in all societies, and factors such as compliance of society, culture, and technology are among the most important factors that affect it. Globalization is an inevitable process and brings with itself many prominent promotions such as global nursing development and important challenges such as nursing emigration and ethical issues.

Introduction

Globalization is a phenomenon that has been rooted in economic and attracted considerable attention in literature at the international level in recent years. Some consider it is a novel phenomenon, and on the other hand, some believe that globalization, beyond its term, is a long-term process during years and centuries.[ 1 , 2 , 3 ] Aside from the question that is it a novel phenomenon or existed a long time ago, it is considered that the differences between societies and their development in addition to the philosophical viewpoint of people that has effects on their ideology-are also effective on attitude about this phenomenon. So that in developed countries and maybe western societies, this phenomenon has been more understood, although in developing countries it has been experienced recently and in under-developed countries, it will be proposed in future. This is why most of the papers about globalization from developed countries have been published in 1995–2010, but in developing countries, most of them have been published since 2005 till now (By advance search in Google scholar and checking the number of the published article).

Globalization is a process that connects nations, trades, and people by financial development, communication changes, cultural transformations, and travels.[ 4 , 5 ] The most appropriate definition of globalization for all fields of health is this definition: globalization is a process, in which the events, activities, and decisions of a region in the world can have important effects on people, societies, or connections of another region of the world. This definition can cover the spread of a disease from one part of the world to another, or that health decisions in one part of the world can have important outcomes in another part of the world.[ 6 ] Globalization and its impact on health have been discussed by a few experts, especially in the field of nursing. Keighley believes that globalization in healthcare is a complex concept that not only needs attention and knowledge of caring and health but also needs attention to other factors like immigration, financial development, having an international common language, and using technology in daily routine life.[ 7 ] Regarding the changes in the nursing system comparing to the past, such as nurses' immigration, technology development in the health-care area, and new fields in universities, it can be claimed that nursing is affected by globalization. However, there are little data available in the literature about this. Hence, considering the lack of information about the effects of globalization on the nursing profession, the purpose of the present study is to critique and discuss the impacts of globalization on nursing and review the opportunities and challenges.

The focus of this essay was to assess the impacts of globalization on the nursing profession. In this scholarly review study, related articles in web references were investigated. Published papers in scientific websites, PubMed, Science Direct, CINAHL, and Scopus, were searched by MeSH keywords including, “globalization,” “Internationality,” “opportunity,” “threat,” “global,” and “nursing,” separately and combined with no time limits till 2018 in English. With the three steps of 1-selection of articles by reading abstract, 2-selection with an overview of the text, and 3-selection with full review of the article's text, related articles were selected. In the first stage of searching, 1220 papers were obtained from which 121 papers were selected by overview of the texts. Then articles more related to the topic were selected, which counted 26 papers. Related subjects were also studied in library references and then appropriate contents were studied carefully, and summaries were prepared. After full understanding of the subjects, globalization in nursing, challenges, and opportunities were described and discussed. The inclusion criteria were: the relevancy and having the characteristics of a scientific paper based on the Critical Appraisal Skills Program. The exclusion criterion was: lack of access to the full text of articles (such as articles that presented at seminars and congresses) [ Figure 1 ].

The article search process

Regarding the definition of globalization as a phenomenon that erodes conventional borders separating people from society, one of the considerable characteristics of globalization, mentioned above, is omitting borders. According to the literature review, we categorize and discuss the nursing areas that are affected by globalization in nine areas: Globalized nursing, nurses' migration, information interchange and interactions in nursing, higher education in nursing, professional territory, nursing specialization, professional ethics, management and supervision, and professionalism and independence, which are described in more detail below.

Globalized nursing

Globalization in the health-care system removes borders and brings systems, structures, and processes in the health care area closer in all over the world.[ 8 ] By removing borders, nursing systems of different countries come closer to each other, and they will become more similar in systems, structures, and processes. Acceptability of international nursing standards and health care guidelines in many countries, Nursing care based on the nursing process, North American Nursing Diagnosis Association nursing diagnoses, and then planning based on these diagnoses are examples of globalized nursing.

Removing borders and globalized nursing can be considered a desired opportunity in nursing because it produces health-care integration and makes nurses to act based on international standards in many countries. On the other hand, eradication of borders and union of health care standards in different countries regardless the rituals and beliefs of peoples who lived in this countries, can be a threat too, because the culture, ideas, and beliefs of people about health care and nursing in different countries are not the same, however, in the current century, when most of the countries are on their way for globalization, cultures, and beliefs are almost closer or it will be sooner or later. Thus, the above-mentioned challenge looks less important. The other critics about nursing globalization and removing borders are that similar systems, structures, and processes that can limit creativity in clinical and educational environments even more.

Nurses’ migration

Nurses’ migration can be considered as a feature of geographical borders erosion in nursing and one of the results of globalization. Nurses' emigration can also be considered as positive or negative consequences of globalization. In the 1950s, Philippian nurses emigrated and traveled mostly to America for education, and then, they traveled to middle-east countries or developed countries for a job so that during 1994–2003 about 84,000 nurses left Philippine[ 9 , 10 ] which is considerable statically. As a result of these migrations, Philippine has experienced a number of challenges and threats in its healthcare system in the last decade.[ 11 ] However, this problem is not limited to Philippine, and other countries are facing similar ones.[ 12 , 13 ]

Today, the number of nurses who want to emigrate and are searching for a job in other countries is increasing, so that nurses immigrate to other countries searching for a job and employment. These migrations are mostly to developed countries such as England, News land, and Australia.[ 14 ] Woodbridge and Bland stated that in the last decade, the number of nurses immigrated to News land has increased so that 52% of nurses with work permission in this country has been graduated in another country.[ 15 ] Hence, a great number of skilled and experienced human resources go to developed countries, though in the past, skilled and experienced nurses moved from developed to underdeveloped countries.[ 14 ] The most threatening challenge for the source country is the lack of skilled and specialist labor force. On the other hand, countries have spent a lot of expense for training nurses that are needed, and by their emigration, the expenses that have been spent are spoiled. Moreover, by the emigration of specialists and skilled nurses, countries will have problems with achieving short-term and strategic goals for the health-care system.

Although, there are some advantages in these emigrations; many nurses who emigrate return to their countries at the end of their education or job course with lots of experiences and skills[ 14 ] that is a great advantage for their country in clinics, schools, and management.

Information interchange and interactions in nursing

One of the characteristics of globalization is the acceleration of interactions and processes. In a world that is on its way to globalization, not only communications and transportation but also ideas, data, goods, and decision distribution is revolutionized and accelerated.[ 16 ] Nursing has not been an exception, and nowadays, technology advances are observed in it. The question here is that can interactions and technology expansion be an opportunity or a threat in nursing. Regarding Siegal, communication technology results in improving the availability of health-care facilities.[ 17 ] Hence, it seems that technology entering nursing is advantageous since it results in expanding inter and intra-professional relations and also facilitates the availability of patients' information. Thus, meeting patient's needs for care will be easier. A global view that is accepted and approved by the WHO is that globalization and information technology and communication in healthcare can lead to rapid and global access to new treatments, technologies, and knowledge can resources. Abbott and Coenen have stated a good example by describing the role of information technology and communication in treating SARS in 2003. During the first cases of SARS in China in 2003, a virtual digital environment consisting of 11 labs in 9 countries connected by information technology and communication was developed and results of tissue analysis after death, electron microscope images of viruses, genetic sequences, and other related data were shared by E-mails and a safe website.[ 18 ] The above case is an obvious example of the role of technology entering health care. In the nursing profession, technology development and electronic communication have resulted in increasing nurses' knowledge, acceleration of data interchange, and improvement in time-saving. On the other hand, technology improvement and developing nursing services sites facilitate the availability of needed information and cares. Thus, nursing absolutely is affected by technology and information. Advances in education, telenursing, telemedical education, moving toward health electronic files, and nursing knowledge management are some examples of this claim. However, one of the concerns in this issue that seems logical is ignoring the spirituality, because human is a biological, psychological, and social entity and communication, caring, and treatment regardless of the human spirit and emotional relationship is incomplete. Hence, concern about less emotion due to technology development in the nursing profession, is a true critic.

Higher education in nursing

Baumann and Blythe stated that in today's world, the need for skilled and educated people like nurses has increased. Regarding them, America, Australia, and Britain have had vital roles in training nurses in higher-level educations. They described higher education development is possible in three ways: First, traveling and migration of students to receive these educations. Second, using distant learning, and third, educational institutes of one country that Have established branches in another country.[ 1 ] Regarding these statements, higher education of nurses is considerably affected by globalization, particularly if the three ways mentioned above are considered, it is obvious that they are affected by globalization. For example, in Iran, which is a developing country, the first way has been more common, but increasing in the other two ways as a result of globalization in the coming years is not surprising. Currently, in Iran, we have a master degree and doctorate. Based on the Iran Nursing Association website, attempts to get a doctorate degree began in the 1980s in Iran, and the first doctorate student began academic studying in 1995 in Tabriz, Iran.[ 19 ] Accepting doctorate students began about 20 years ago in Iran; however, it might be due to globalization because the first attempts for this purpose were by graduates of other countries who had returned to Iran. The authors could not find the exact statistics of graduates in Iran by using the nursing association and health ministry websites. Although currently higher education development is under critics by some criticisms and can be considered a threat or a challenge, because they believe that under current circumstances, we are in a lack of clinical nurses, accepting higher education students must be matched with colleges needs not more. Arani-Mansouri, in his paper, has stated that one of the biggest problems in higher education is the lack of regulations and scientific guidelines for using these specialists in clinics. Particularly in recruiting nursing doctorates, there is an obvious concern for mismanagement of them in a clinical position, and there is not yet enough potential job for them.[ 20 ] However, in the present paper, higher education development has been considered one of the positive consequences of globalization, considering its identity that is one of the facilitating elements of the professionalizing process, profession independence, and social prestige of nursing.

Professional territory

The other positive consequence of globalization is the expansion of nursing professional territory. Seloilwe believes that in the 1970s, nursing was limited to hospitals and clinics; however, today, there are a lot of fields for nurses to work.[ 14 ] Nowadays, the professional territory of nurses is more expanded than the past and in addition to hospitals, nurses can work in health clinics, schools, physician's offices, family clinics, Methadone therapy clinics, neonates and pregnancy care clinics, rehabilitation centers, sexually transmitted disease units, home care, and research centers.[ 17 , 21 ] In many countries, due to globalization, the professional territory of nurses has expanded compared to the past, and in addition to hospitals and clinics, they are working in private sectors, outpatient clinics, health and hygiene training fields, schools, rehabilitation centers, insurance offices, teaching in academic centers, and research centers. Today, the expanded and variable professional territory of nursing is one of the attractions for students, and as mentioned above, it is one of the effects of globalization.

Nursing specialization

Regarding Haste, the specialist nurse concept was developed in North America and was entered to Britain in the 1970s.[ 22 ] Nevertheless, Scott states in his paper that there have been trends of nursing specialization in the 1950s and 1960s in Britain. He has pointed out the nursing specialty in Nursing Royal College in England and has described two purposes of nursing specialization in this college that were professional improvement and patient care improvement. Scott states that in held committees in this college, it is documented that in a time that medical sciences are specialized, specialization of nursing is essential too.[ 23 ] What is obvious to us in today's world is that nursing specialization is expanded and used in many countries due to globalization phenomenon and its interactions.

Nursing specialization has opponents and proponents too. There has some literature about evaluating specialist nurses roles[ 24 , 25 ] that have shown specialized nursing services valuable and recommended specialist nurses training. Despite the advantages of nursing specialization, like higher skill and knowledge in one domain, some experts do not agree with specialization. They believed that nursing must be total-oriented and considered human as a whole, not an organ or a body.[ 23 ] Authors believe that it is true and can be a challenge for nursing specialization. However, specialist nurses' training has begun and is going on in many countries. Nevertheless, training total-oriented nurses must not be neglected because human is a biological, emotional, and social entity and attention to one organ or one disease hides another aspect.

Professional ethics

Since Florence Nightingale, nursing was formed based on ethical rules.[ 26 ] In today's world in which migrations are increasing, and there are a variety of cultures, ethical and professional responsibilities of nursing seem to be much more complex than ever. The challenge here is the effect of globalization. On the one hand, by editing ethical codes by Nursing International Association, globalization can be considered an effective step toward ethics improvement, and on the other hand, many believe that after globalization, ethics are less pronounced, and obtaining profit and wealth are replacing that. Today, western culture distribution affected by borders' opening and migrations seem to be challenging in Iran. Many experts of nursing in Iran have ethical concerns. Some consider ethical codes and law charters, emphasis on justice, private domain, health-care services availability, and international supervising organizations as positive consequences of globalization. They believe that globalization caused ethical improvement in the profession. For example, in the past in Iran, there was a negative image of HIV affected patients even among health-care staff, and there was the possibility of information disclosure outside of health-care system so these patients were taunted and thrown from society. However, today patients' data protection is an ethical code, and negligence of it is a crime. On the other hand, those who believe that globalization has a negative effect on ethics state the cause of their concern Western culture spreading. Xu, in his paper for establishing the difference between West and East, says that many Asian nurses have more empathy than American nurses, and American nurses follow caring because of fear from rules and being sued.[ 27 ] Thus, those who believe that globalization is a challenge considered mechanical care, fear from rules and being sued instead of empathy and altruism, increased financial motives, and Loss of traditional Eastern cultures relationship as a major threat due to globalization. Reviewing paper by Visovsky et al .,[ 28 ] can be helpful in this issue. They described that societies need students with cultural awareness and international competencies, so in this way, they will be better able to meet their complex needs of health-care system.

Do aside from agreeing or disagreeing with ethical issues that have been described above, what is obvious is that currently in the nursing profession due to globalization, nurses are facing ethical dilemmas more than ever. For example, in today's world, in some countries, suicide is considered a right, but in others it is not. An immigrant nurse to a culture in which suicide is a human right faces an ethical dilemma. Assume a nurse from a country where euthanasia is a sin enters a country in which it is allowed, and now he/she is facing a patient that his/her family asks for euthanasia. These are ethical issues that challenge nursing more than the past due to globalization, nurses' migrations, and working in places with different culture, religion, and values. Although there has always been an ethical dilemma in the nursing profession and many nurses, have faced them, today they seem to be more pronounced because of globalization and its effects on nursing.

Management and supervision

Globalization, which has expanded management knowledge, has challenges with itself that make managers and supervisors concerned. One of them is diseases' burden and its management. Meier believes that globalization has caused an increase of infectious diseases such as AIDS, SARS, drug resistance, non-communicable diseases, and chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancers, and diabetes by increasing traveling and removing borders.[ 29 ]

It should be noted that globalization does not always have similar effects on countries. Lack of healthy food and water in underdeveloped countries like African countries causes a high mortality rate and high birth rate, so poor will become poorer, and rich will become richer. As one of the results of globalization is diseases and infectious factors distribution due to open borders and open relationships, it should be noted there is a need for a management and supervision system in international, national, and hospital levels. On the other hand, regarding bioterrorism, there is a need for supervision systems more than the past, and this is a challenge which affects nursing too.

In today's world, societies need nursing leaders who trained about technology knowledge and communications and globalization process. While globalization is deploying, nursing can use this phenomenon as a step forward to better serving and creating a unique environment for nursing leadership and nursing cares. So, although globalization, associated with management challenges mentioned above, but new technologies can create creative opportunities in health-care domain that facilitate the availability of isolated and remote areas. Hence, this challenge can be an opportunity for nurses and increases productivity, justice, and quality of health care and decreases the effect of geographical distance.

Professional independence

Today, nursing is considered a profession and steps are taken for its professionality.[ 30 ] Professional interactions, initiative, and academic educations[ 31 ] are among factors that have a role in nursing professionality. Factors like academic education deployment and professional interactions and many other effective factors in nursing professionality are globalization characteristics. Thus, it seems that nursing professionality, although formed in developed countries a long time ago, but in developing countries, is deploying and under evolution by the effect of globalization and its characteristics. So, based on the opinion of the authors, globalization could improve knowledge, competence, and skills of nurses, particularly in developing countries and nursing is considered today or will be considered in the coming years, not as a job, but as a profession, however, there are problems considering the cultural and social background in these countries.

About professional independence, Ballou quoted by Freidson (1970) has said that all characterized factor of professionality is originated from independence and go back to it.[ 32 ] In a part of Ballou's article, independence is considered as ability, capacity, and competence. In previous sections, it was mentioned that globalization increases the knowledge, ability, and skills of nurses. Regarding the previous discussion, the authors believe that globalization, by increasing professional knowledge and awareness, has increased the nursing profession's independence. On the other hand, entering men to nursing, industrialization, advances in hospitals, and nurses' socialization[ 33 ] are factors that effective in professional independence, and many characteristics like industrialization and advances are hidden in globalization nature. Of course, the development and deployment of independent nursing organizations are the factors enhancing professional independence.

Another discussion is the professional authority, which is seemed by achieving professional identity and independence, can achieve professional authority. Authority, power, knowing one as a competent nurse, and self-satisfaction are consequences of independence.[ 32 ] However, it should be noted that in Iran and maybe other developing countries, achieving professional authority is under question because Professional nursing and professional independence still not been achieved 100%.

Based on the results, globalization can affect nursing in nine areas. Table 1 summarizes these results.

Effects of globalization on nursing

According to the literature review, globalization is the dynamic process, and it seems that no discipline or profession does not be affected by the effects of globalization. Although the intensity and deepness of these effects are not the same in different parts of the world and have not similar results for all countries, all health professions, including nursing, are affected by globalization. The intensity of globalization effects on the nursing profession has not been the same in all societies, and factors like compliance of society, culture, and technology are among the most important factors that affect it.[ 34 ]

The ways to turn challenges into opportunities are not included in this discussion, but in the following, some examples of these strategies briefly mentioned in some area:

Nursing instructors should address challenges in the global nursing development area by putting critical thinking principles in the core curriculum. They must Foster social values, solidarity, sensitivity, and political literacy in nursing students.[ 35 ] For example, they can teach students about the values, cultures, and beliefs of different people in the community health nursing class through some methods such as brainstorming, strengthening students 'creativity. In the same tutorials and discussions, there are even opportunities for entrepreneurship, like inspiration from the cultural coverage for a hospital dressing company.

In nurse's emigration area, as mentioned, countries of origin experience more challenges. These countries can turn this challenge into a viable opportunity by attracting education and employment conditions, such as providing short-term scholarships to go to the requested countries in the fields required and by bail. In this way, nurses return home with expertise, experience, and satisfaction. Therefore, the challenges of shortage of workforce will be eliminated, clinical conditions will be improved, and expert nurses with high perception will work.

Nurses can turn challenges into opportunities in the Professional independence area by working in a systematic and comprehensive manner, strengthening knowledge in the field of their work, along with experience and autonomy in practice.[ 36 ] They must be self-employed and should be responsible for their own policies and regulations.[ 37 ] In the Professional ethics area Nursing instructors should address challenges by educating students with cultural awareness and international nursing competences (28).

Consequently, it can be concluded that globalization is inevitable, and the nursing profession is not an exception to be affected by this phenomenon. It means that by increasing global awareness and communication deployment, which are results of globalization, even conversations in the nursing system are affected. One of the limitations of this study is searching in English that it can limit our findings, but because of the main and global language of nursing literature is English, we conducted this searching strategy.

In conclusion, Nursing can consider globalization as a threat or an opportunity, what is desirable in nursing about globalization is using opportunities, decreasing challenges, and changing them to opportunities by creative and principled management.

Financial support and sponsorship

Iran University of Medical Sciences.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

Acknowledgment

We would like to thank Dr. Naimeh Seyed Fatemi from Iran University of Medical Sciences for her valuable comments.