Research Paper on:
Elements of Nursing Philosophy Development

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
outlined by the student researching this topic, i.e., "the individual (person), health care environment (environment), health and illness (health) and nursing (nursing)." The following examination of these concepts/meta-paradigms will discuss  each and how they contribute to nursing philosophy development, with a particular focus on the experience of an emergency department (ED) nurse. Individual Tourville and Ingalls (2003) use the  interesting and apt analogy of tree in order to offer a comprehensive overview of modern nursing theory. In this analogy the trunk of the tree consists of the influential ideas  of the first modern theorist, Florence Nightingale, but the roots, that is, the foundation on which all other ideas are based are the four meta-paradigms. The "person," i.e., the individual,  is the first of these concepts and defined by Tourville and Ingalls as "the individual with whom the nurse is interacting in a therapeutic manner" (Tourville and Ingalls, 2003, p.  22). In other words, the "individual" is person or persons who receive the nurses focus of care. This means that the "individual" can be singular or plural, as this  concept can apply to a group, such as a community or a mental health nurse leading a group therapy session or it can mean a family. Within the context of  an ED, in general, nursing interaction focuses on individuals, as the point of the emergency service is to stabilize patients in emergency situations and also handle other types of  crisis situations. Healthcare environment The environment in which nursing takes place can vary considerably, as this fundamental nursing concept encompasses "any place where the therapeutic interaction" between nurse and  the "individual" occurs (Tourville and Ingalls, 2003, p. 22). As this suggests, a healthcare environment in which a nurse works can be a hospital, clinic, school, workplace, or a community