You are required to submit a scholarly paper in which you will identify, describe, research, and apply the concepts that underlie your personal philosophy for professional nursing practice.
This will help you identify your own values and beliefs about the established metaparadigms and metatheories of the discipline. It will also help you identify and articulate concepts relevant to your specific practice. This paper is intended to be an exercise in clarification and organization of your professional foundation. You are also required to provide a list of assumptions from personal nursing practice that illustrate the concepts and framework of your theory.
Your paper should follow a format that includes:
- Nursing Autobiography: A brief (1 page) discussion of your background in nursing.
- The Four Metaparadigms: Identification, discussion, and documentation from the literature of your perspective on the basic four metaparadigms/concepts of patient, nurse, health, and environment.
- Two Practice-Specific Concepts: Identification, discussion, and documentation from the literature of your perspective on at least two other concepts specific to your own practice.
- List of Propositions: A numbered list of at least five propositions or assumption statements that clearly connect the concepts described.
Each week, you will complete various segments of your Concept Synthesis Paper and submit it to the W1: Assignment 3 Dropbox for facilitator feedback when necessary. Your paper should integrate these discrete elements and reflect your personal nursing philosophy.
Your Concept Synthesis Paper on your Personal Nursing Philosophy is due in Week 3. However, it is recommended that you begin working on your paper from Week 1 onwards and complete the various components related to the paper week wise as you progress through the course. The suggested tasks for each week are:
Week 1: Nursing Biography and The Four Metaparadigms of Nursing
Week 2: Two Practice-specific Concepts, and List of Propositions/Assumptions
Week 3: Due: Concept Synthesis Paper on Personal Nursing Philosophy
Consider the following questions as you complete your various tasks related to this assignment.
| 1. | How do I define and employ the four basic metaparadigms of nursing theory in my professional practice? |
| 2. | What are the major concepts I employ that are unique to my professional practice? |
| 3. | What philosophies and theories from the literature of nursing and other disciplines/domains are consistent with these concepts? |
| 4. | How are the concepts of transcultural nursing, the health promotion model, skill acquisition, role theory, and change theory specifically integrated into my philosophy and practice? |
| 5. | What research supports these theories and concepts? |
| 6. | How do I integrate role and change theory into my professional practice and how may these theories be applied to the organization in which I practice? |
The paper is to be thoroughly researched and well documented, with relevant material from the nursing theorists presented incorporated into the paper. Use the current edition of the APA Manual throughout the paper. Sources should focus on references from nursing theory but may also include conceptual and theoretical material from other professional domains. The paper, excluding references or appendices, is to be limited to 6-10 pages. Writing should be succinct and well organized, as it is impossible for the facilitator to evaluate form and content separately.
Your philosophy/framework is to be given a title that is appropriate to its content and emphasis.
