RUNNING HEAD: THEORY GUIDED PRACTICE

Theory Guided Practice

Jennifer Fernandez
University of Saint Mary

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In nursing, theory guides all the practice we do. Nursing started off as hospital training
only. Over the years it was decided that nursing training needed to be more organized and
universal. Florence Nightingale was the original nursing theorist, teach not what is to be done
but how to do it. McEwen & Lewis (2014, p.26). She put into words more of what nursing is
and does for humankind. Many theorists have come since her but her theory still stands strong
today.
Theory guides the nursing practice we perform. Over the years we have used theory to
develop evidence based practice. The metaparadigm of nursing is the culmination of person,
health, nursing, and environment. McEwen & Lewis (2014, p.41). Over time multiple theorists
provide a backbone in theory of the best way to care for people and the factors that play into the
roles of nurses as caregivers. Theory guides practice by constantly evolving to result in the best
patient outcomes. Theories become concepts, and operationally superior concepts become
practice.
Theory guides practice. One of the primary uses of theory is to contribute insights about
nursing practice situations through provision of goals for assessment, diagnosis, and intervention.
Likewise, through practice, nursing theory is shaped, and guidelines for practice evolve. Theory
renders practice more efficient and more effective, and the ultimate benefit of theory application
in nursing is the improvement in client care. McEwen & Lewis (2014, p.83).
Using theory guided practice nursing can provide the best care. We are using the most
recent researched, effective care there is out there. We build upon borrowed research from the
past to update how we care for things such as foley catheter care and central line care now. By
using their theories and the most recent evidence based care we can prevent patients from
suffering from catheter induced UTIs and sepsis from central line infections. Practice must not

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only be evidence-based but also theory-based, for when research validates a theory, it provides
the evidence required for EBP. Finally, as more research is conducted about a specific theory,
more evidence is provided to support practice. McEwen & Lewis (2014, p.263-264).
Nursing needs to realize that research and theory are the basis for clinical practice. We as
nurses are more than just the clinician but also rely on theory and research to do what we do to
care for our patients every day. Theory provides nurses with a perspective with which to view
client situations and a way to organize data in daily care. McEwen & Lewis (2014, p.413). In
nursing, practice without theory becomes rote performance of activities based on tradition,
common sense, and following orders. McEwen & Lewis (2014, p.415).We are the future of
nursing, we are the theory and research subjects for years of nursing to come.

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Theory Guided Practice

References
Cowen, P.S. & Moorhead, S. (Eds.). (2014). Current issues in nursing. (8th ed.). St. Louis:
Mosby Elsevier.
McEwen, M. & Wills, E.M. (2011). Theoretical basis for nursing. (4th ed.). Philadelphia:
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.