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Introduction
Nursing is a complex process that is influenced by a variety of factors related to a patient, a nurse, and an environment. To understand the impact of these factors on a nursing process and to provide high-quality care, nurses need to act upon their knowledge of nursing theory. In the past decades, several nursing theorists have developed their perception of care and the nurses role in it. Each theory attempts to explain the nursing process and an interplay between the key four paradigms of nursing: person, environment, health, and nursing. This paper will focus on the Neuman Systems Model, which is among the most popular nursing theories today. It was developed by Betty M. Neuman and named after her.
Neuman was born in September 1924 in Ohio ( Betty M. Neuman papers, 2016). She received nursing training during World War II and completed her Cadet Nurse Training Program in 1947 ( Betty M. Neuman papers, 2016). After the war, Neuman moved to California to continue her nursing education and practice. She graduated from a B.S.N. and M.S. coursing, focusing on mental health nursing, which led her to develop her first nursing model aimed at nurses working with mentally ill patients ( Betty M. Neuman papers, 2016). In her article that was published in 1982, the professional discussed the Neuman Systems Model and the way similar principles can be applied to all areas of nursing, including primary care, chronic disease care, and more. The Neuman Systems Model is different from the other nursing theories as it defines health in terms of the patients reaction to stressors. This paper will seek to summarize the principles of Neumans theory and examine how they can be translated into nursing practice.
Major Components
The four main paradigms that are evident in all nursing theories are a person, an environment, nursing, and health. Each model of nursing defines these paradigms and explains the relationship between them differently (Alligood, 2018). In Neumans model, the person is represented as a system or a collection of five variables: physiological, psychological, sociocultural, spiritual, and developmental (Alligood, 2018). Neumans theory stresses that the persons health suffers from stressors associated with one of these variables. For instance, sociocultural stressors include domestic abuse, employment status, and family relations, whereas physiological stressors are the variables that have a direct effect on health (cancer, substance abuse, etc.).
In each separate case, the clients health can be viewed in terms of the interplay of these variables and the stressors that affect them. Thus, Neuman views health as the relationship between the energy needed to deal with the stressors and the energy available (Alligood, 2018). In other words, the person can achieve health by increasing the amounts of energy available while also minimizing the stressors. Consequently, nursing is the process in which nurses assist clients in stabilizing the system by reducing stressors and improving the levels of energy available through primary, secondary, or tertiary interventions.
Finally, the environment is explained by Neuman as the system of forces influencing the patient system by creating stressors or supports. There are three key levels of the environment: internal, external, and created environment. The internal environment includes the forces that are inherent to the individual, such as habits or body composition. The external environment consists of the conditions that are outside of the patients control, such as economic factors, air pollution, and more. Thus, the created environment comprises external factors that are shaped or maintained by the individual either directly or indirectly. This includes employment, education, and interpersonal relationships, as well as other factors.
Research evidence shows that applying the Neuman Systems Model can lead to the improvement of nursing care outcomes in clinical settings. For instance, a study by Ahmadi and Sadeghi (2017) revealed that applying the model to individual patient cases can help nurses to better understand the needs of patients and to improve interventions accordingly. Another study, performed by Khatiban, Oshvandi, Borzou, and Moayed (2016), examined the application of the Neuman System Model in ICT settings. The researchers found that nurses who used the model in their work were able to control for the environmental stresses affecting the patients, thus reducing the incidence of adverse outcomes. Moreover, the quality of care provided by nurses using the model was better, leading to improved trust and shorter hospital stay (Khatiban et al., 2016). On the whole, the model can help nurses in various settings to be more efficient in their role by improving their understanding of the factors affecting patient health and recovery.
Relevance
Neuman revealed her interest in the sphere of healthcare at the very beginning of her career. Nevertheless, she had no desire to treat illnesses and diseases; her target was to help people and to cure them, providing an opportunity to enhance their quality of life. This claim can be proved by the fact that she spent much time studying nursing and its different aspects. In addition to that, Neuman was interested in psychology. Thus, she was expected to be interested in the way her patients perceive various stressors and react to them. The combination of mental health and nursing allowed the professional to investigate various aspects of human beings. In this way, her desire to develop a model that may be used to help patients cope with stressors and defend themselves can be understood.
In contemporary healthcare settings, the Neuman Systems Model is especially relevant due to the complexity of the environment surrounding patients. Environmental, political, and economic developments have led to an increase in stressors affecting our lives and health. Moreover, Neumans model offers a comprehensive look at the factors impacting patients at various levels and recognizes the impact of these forces on patient health. For example, the model emphasizes the effect of socio-cultural and spiritual variables on patient health, thus offering a new perspective on the connection between environment and wellbeing.
Also, the Neuman Systems Model is rather versatile, which allows nurses to apply it in various areas of nursing, including education, research, and practice. The model was originally developed in educational settings, which means that its primary goal is to provide students with a way of understanding and recognizing the variables affecting the nursing process. However, the model also provides practical guidelines for examining the patient and developing an intervention plan. According to Neumans model, each patient can be perceived as a system of variables affected by intrapersonal, interpersonal, and extrapersonal stressors, thus offering a systematic approach to diagnostics and treatment.
The discussed theory may rather advantageous for those professionals who are occupied in nursing research. As shown by Memmott, Marett, Bott, and Duke (2017) and Turner and Kaylor (2015), the Neuman Systems Model can also be applied to examine problems experienced by nurses in their work, such as interdisciplinary collaboration and workplace stress. Therefore, the model is versatile and comprehensive, which allows applying it to the contemporary healthcare environment. It is especially useful nowadays because the issue of nursing overload and work-related exhaustion becomes critical. The number of experienced healthcare professionals who can provide high-quality services reduces because of increased turnover rates that are triggered by nurses inability to cope with workplace stressors. In addition to that, the Neuman Systems Model may be used to continue investigating the way patients with different issues can return to the normal line of defense within a short period.
Summary and Conclusion
Overall, the Neuman Systems Model is useful to nursing education, research, and practice, as it represents the person and their health in terms of factors that act as energy sources or as stressors. The nursing process is perceived as the nurses help in eliminating the stressors and balancing energy, thus achieving health or wellbeing. The key advantages of the model are its versatility and thoroughness, as well as proven effectiveness. However, the model also has some limitations. First of all, it is somewhat complicated and can be understood incorrectly, leading to the faulty application of the concepts to practice. Secondly, the model presents a large number of variables and forces affecting patient health. Assessing the influence of each variable can take time, which makes the model inappropriate for situations where quick actions are needed. Finally, some aspects of the model are vague. For example, Neuman does not provide a definition of stressors, which might cause difficulties in applying the model to practice. Nevertheless, despite these limitations, the model is promising and can be effective when used in education, research, and practice.
References
Ahmadi, Z., & Sadeghi, T. (2017). Application of the Betty Neuman systems model in the nursing care of patients/clients with multiple sclerosis. Multiple Sclerosis JournalExperimental, Translational, and Clinical, 3(3), 1-8.
Alligood, M. R. (2018). Nursing theorists and their work (9th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.
Betty M. Neuman papers. (2016). Web.
Khatiban, M., Oshvandi, K., Borzou, S. R., & Moayed, M. S. (2016). Outcomes of applying Neuman System Theory in intensive care units: A systematic review. Journal of Critical Care Nursing, 9(4), 1-7.
Memmott, R. J., Marett, K. M., Bott, R. L., & Duke, L. (2017). Use of the Neuman Systems Model for interdisciplinary teams. Online Journal of Rural Nursing and Health Care, 1(2), 58-73.
Turner, S. B., & Kaylor, S. D. (2015). Neuman Systems Model as a conceptual framework for nurse resilience. Nursing Science Quarterly, 28(3), 213-217.
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