Jean Watsons Theory of Caring: Theoretical Foundation and Implementation Plan

Table of Contents

Nursing Theory
Implementation Plan
Barriers to Plan Implementation
Conclusion
References

Understanding and Measuring the impacts of nursing staffing intervention on health outcomes among patients is a non-trivial task. Due to the complexity and multifaceted nature of the issue, there is a need for a theoretical foundation that could assist in revealing the meaning and increasing the relevance of the results (Munhall, 2012). In addition, the intervention needs to be well-planned to yield high-quality results. This essay will review the application of human caring theory as well as develop and analyze an implementation plan for the proposed intervention.

Nursing Theory

Among other notions, Jean Watsons theory of caring can meaningfully contribute to the interventions academic foundation. One of the central claims within this framework is that quality of care can be achieved through interpersonal interaction (Smith & Parker, 2015). Shortage of staff under this assumption reduces the caregivers ability to communicate meaningfully with all of his or her patients, thereby involuntarily diminishing the quality of health outcomes.

Conversely, consistent with the theory of caring, increasing the presence of caregivers would prolong the length and improve the quality of interactions. Another advantage of using this nursing model is that it emphasizes the aspect of continuous care (Smith & Parker, 2015). About the PICOT, the theory orients the study on drawing implications for the long-term functioning of the hospital and the formation of effective care policies.

One more benefit of the nursing theory that could be relevant to the present research is that it supports the repeated interactions with clients as well as their families which seems to be relating positively to client satisfaction and post-discharge health outcomes (Smith & Parker, 2015). While the hospitalization period of the intervention is indeed dependent on the nurse-patient relationships, the ratio of secondary admission might as well be decreased if a nurse provides education to the patients family. In light of this, it might be anticipated that the study would reveal high readmission rates among patients serviced under low staffing conditions when health status will be measured.

Implementation Plan

Plan Implementation Steps	Notes	Time needed
Obtain funding	Raise enough funds to cover the wages of additional staff	2-3 weeks
Recruit additional nursing personnel	Determine the number of nurses needed, find and review candidates, ensure their participation	2-3 weeks
Design schedule and allocate duties	Make sure that routing schedules do not overlap but provide an adequate and sufficient level of care	1 week
Create a checklist	The checklist will improve the quality of intervention (Munhall, 2012)	1 week
Measure pre-intervention health status	To establish the baseline status in both control and intervention groups	1 day before the intervention
A measure of post-intervention health status	To establish the post-intervention status in both control and intervention groups	1 week after the intervention
Develop and present the final report	Summary of findings	2 weeks

Barriers to Plan Implementation

One possible barrier is that funding for the study will not be sufficient to provide the number of nurses to sustain a good quality of care as compared to no intervention (Munhall, 2012). This barrier could be overcome by drawing not only health care facility funds but requesting financing from local and national health care organizations. Another limitation is that the quality of study results will be undermined by poor nurse qualification. To control for that, a careful examination of nurse resumes will be conducted.

Conclusion

The paper established that Watsons human care theory could provide a prominent foundation for the research due to its emphasis on nurse-patient interaction. In addition, it will contribute by underlining the care process continuity and value of patient-family education. The devised care plan consisting of seven steps will ensure the study will be conducted smoothly and demonstrate meaningful results.