Watson’s Theory Of Human Caring: Origin And Applications

Nurses in their line of duty are exposed to health hazards. During their daily routine at work, they are exposed to illnesses and injuries. Their nature of work puts them at risk of this problem. Their work majorly involves walking, standing, stretching and bending which is tiresome. Due to this fatigue, they end up getting injuries and illnesses from needle sticks, tripping, patient handling activities, violence, and repetitive stress. The cases of non-fatal occupational injuries and illnesses are high in health sectors than in any other sector. Illnesses and injuries can cause nurses to perform ineffectively.

DESCRIPTION OF A MIDDLE-RANGE THEORY APPLICABLE TO THIS PROBLEM.

The middle-range theories are categorized into three, which include; middle-range descriptive, middle-range explanatory and middle-range predictive theories (Smith & Parker, 2015). The middle-range explanatory theory is best applicable to this problem. Each of the middle range-explanatory theory explains how a situation is related to the other. An example of the middle-range theory that shall be used in this problem is Waston's theory of human caring.

The Waston’s theory of human caring explains how nurses are supposed to maintain emotional sensitivity and caring attitudes in an overstressed and demanding workplace, (Clark,2016). This theory also states that caring is a responsibility between the nurse, the patient, and all the health workers. This theory also states emphasizes that we must be able to take care of ourselves to be able to take care of others. Waston states that,' humans cannot be treated as objects and that humans cannot be separated from self, other, nature and the larger workforce.' This is the key statement of this theory.

Waston’s theory of human caring is best fit to explain this problem. This theory explains how the nurses should interact with the patients and how they should carry themselves at work .places. The theory states that nurses should maintain emotional sensitivity and caring attitudes in overstressed and demanding workplaces. Nurses should work despite the challenges that they face. They are dealing with human beings and they all depend on each other.

ORIGIN OF WASTON’S THEORY OF HUMAN CARING.

The origin of this theory is from her first book-Nursing: the philosophy and science of caring.This theory emerged from Jean Waston’s attempt to bring new meaning and dignity to the world of nursing. The concepts of the theory were derived from her experience both personal and professional. He coined this theory between 1975 and 1979 when she was teaching at the University of Colorado. In 1985 she altered the theory and introduced the transpersonal human caring paradigm. This transpersonal human caring focused on the moral ideal, the communication meaning and client interaction.

HOW THE HUMAN CARING THEORY HAS BEEN PREVIOUSLY APPLIED.

This theory has been applied to the care and treatment of patients. This theory is applied through carative factors or caritas processes. The carative factors aim at the caring process that will help a person attain good health or die a peaceful death. According to this theory the ten carative factors are as follows; the humanistic altruistic values, instilling faith and hope, cultivation of sensitivity to one's self and other, development of helping-trusting and caring relationships, promotion and acceptance of expression of positive and negative feelings, systematic use of scientific problem solving process, promotional of transpersonal teaching-learning, provision for a supportive and protective mental-spiritual environment, assistance with gratification of human needs and allowance for existential-phenomenological spiritual dimensions. These factors are to be applied by nurses when treating patients.

An example is the nurses caring for an infertile woman receiving in vitro fertilization treatment (Yeter, 2015). The nurses have to apply the ten carative factors when caring for the woman. They have to show her love and give her hope. This example shows how a theory-based nursing practice can enhance human health and healing in stressful life events.

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APPLICATION OF THE HUMAN CARING THEORY TO THE PROBLEM.

This theory states that we must be able to take care of ourselves to be able to take care of others. The problem here is that the health hazards that the nurses are exposed to make them perform ineffectively. This means that if the nurses are unable to be careful with themselves they cannot take care of the patients. For example, if the nurses are stressed by the nature of their work it will be difficult for them to care for the patients.

This theory also states that the nurses are supposed to maintain emotional sensitivity and caring attitudes in an overstressed and demanding workplace. This is the opposite according to the problem. The nurses are exposed to the health hazards and this makes them to perform ineffectively.

This theory also states that human beings are not objects. The nurses, in this case, are viewed as objects. The nature of their work is tiresome and this what exposes them to the health hazards. The nurses perform tasks that involve moving around , standing and stretching which is tiresome to them.

The theory also indicates that caring is between the nurse, the patient, and all the health workers. The responsibility of caring has been left to the nurses alone. There is no one caring about what the nurses experience at work. The nurses care about the patients, on the other hand, no patient cares about the nurses. The other health workers careless or some even don't care about the patients and the nurses.

HOW THE HUMAN CARING THEORY CAN INCORPORATE CHANGE TO THE PROBLEM.

Ensuring cooperation among all the health workers, nurses and patients. There should be a common sharing responsibility.All the health workers should ensure that they understand what the nurses and the patients are going through. This applies to nurses and patients. They should advise each other, most of them undergo psychological challenges from their experiences.

Nurses should also learn to take care of themselves. This theory states that to be able to take care of others we should be able to take care of ourselves. The nurse's sole responsibility is to take care of the patients. To achieve this the nurses should take care of themselves first. In some cases, nurses can be careless leading to injuries from needles. This can result in the nurses injuring the patients. Nurses should also learn to handle their psychological and emotional challenges so that they can be able to handle the patients and see them through recovery.

The nurses should perform their responsibilities despite the situation in the workplace. The sole responsibility of the nurses is to take care of the patients. The patients have all the hopes in them. Despite the situation at work nurses should work to their best when dealing with the patients. The theory states that nurses should maintain emotional sensitivity and caring attitudes in an overstressed and demanding workplace.

Conclusion

Nurses face challenges daily in their workplaces. These challenges are brought about by the nature of the work. On the other hand, it's the responsibility to take care of the patients in the recovery process. The patients have all the hopes in the nurses to help them. Despite all these challenges they should attend to the patient's needs. The human caring theory explains the nature of the nurse's job and how they should help the patients.

Reference

1. Clark, C. (2016). Watson’s human caring theory: Pertinent transpersonal and humanities concepts for educators. Humanities, 5(2), 21.
2. Smith, M. C., & Parker, M. E. (2015). Nursing theories and nursing practice. FA Davis.
3. Yeter Durgun Ozan PhD, B. S. N. (2015). Implementation of Watson's theory of human caring: a case study. International Journal of Caring Sciences, 8(1), 25.