The course “Theoretical and Scientific Underpinnings” allowed me to understand more clearly the role and responsibilities of the nursing professional with a doctoral degree. This course expanded my competencies by enabling me to discover the foundation of nursing practice which ultimately covers various disciplines. It demonstrated the significance of conducting thorough research prior to making crucial decisions concerning clients and their families. Additionally, the course highlighted the necessity to always explore new sources and materials to be able to rely on relevant evidence from different areas of medicine. As a nurse, I have an obligation to deliver services of exceptional quality to all people who need my assistance and support. Studying the course helped me comprehend how nursing differentiates from other health professions. Ultimately, the course facilitated the process of achieving its learning goals by allowing me to gain new knowledge, attitudes, and skills.
One of the major goals of this course was to be able to explore and implement theoretical as well as scientific concepts into professional nursing practice. Learning about a variety of existing nursing theories and approaches enriched my understanding of the values and attitudes a competent doctor of nursing must espouse in order to provide proper care to patients. Betty Neuman’s model was a major discovery for me during this course since her view of clients as systems that experience various impacts of their environment helped me define responsibilities in nursing practice. I integrated her approach to nursing interventions as part of my practice. Namely, it enabled me to pursue a more structured and defined path for ensuring clients’ wellness by following the three stages of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention (Butts & Rich, 2017). Additionally, the concept of transformational leadership exposed me to the role of an advanced practice nurse as a person who must possess the ability to guide others and inspire them to perform at their maximum capacity.
Another goal of the course implied discovering how to integrate an evidence-based approach into the delivery of quality healthcare services. I always considered the principle of evidence-based medicine an important aspect of any health professional. Yet, the course made me realize that as an advanced practice nurse, my duties concerning the implementation of scientific evidence in my work go beyond conventional research and exploring the results of published studies. Every client experiences different sets of environmental influences and has particular needs. Thus, it forces me to be not simply a nurse but a scientist who not only uses the existing evidence but assesses its effectiveness by observing the experiences of patients and their responses. Ultimately, the course allowed me to start viewing each interaction with a client as an instance of research that provides the nursing professional with an opportunity to test their methodology and advance their knowledge.
The third goal that this course helped me achieve concerns the need to embrace an approach that would rely on evidence from all scientific disciplines in order to deliver professional and quality healthcare services. Before taking the course, I did not reflect thoroughly on the topic of the benefits of multi-disciplinary methods in nursing practice. Yet, now, I believe that drawing on the latest research from scientific areas such as sociology and psychology can significantly improve my nursing practice. Additionally, despite the fact that all health professionals possess considerable knowledge in the fields of biology and physiology, these silences are constantly developing, and new discoveries emerge. Therefore, as an advanced practice nurse, I must always update my knowledge and educate myself on the latest developments in the scientific disciplines which are related to nursing. I am certain that relying on evidence from multiple disciplines positively affects nursing practices and the quality of services.
On the other hand, the course also allowed me to understand that before applying any knowledge to practice, it has to be analyzed to ensure that it is effective. Every year, researchers publish numerous studies on various topics, and some of them contain conflicting results. Such issues arise quite often, and advanced practice nurses have to avoid implementing any treatment which does not have consistent evidence which proves its viability. Credibility is another important aspect of the knowledge acquisition process which has to be taken seriously. Certain researchers may have biases and agendas which they attempt to promote in their studies and which ultimately influence their results. Finally, the course demonstrated to me that all existing evidence and knowledge must always be measured against particular clients and their needs. Therefore, nurses have to apply scientific findings and knowledge only when they are certain this will benefit the patient’s health.
The fifth goal of the course, which I achieved, implied gaining competence in creating theoretical and scientific knowledge with the objective to integrate it into nursing practice. As it was mentioned earlier, during the course, I discovered that advanced practice nurses’ task was not limited to finding scientific evidence. Additional responsibility lies in the realm of actually producing reliable knowledge based on empirical fact. In other words, as a doctor of nursing practice, I must be skilled in formulating theoretical propositions and testing them in order to determine their applicability and effectiveness. The course materials helped me master the skills of composing scientific knowledge, conducting an experiment, and integrating the findings into practice. Yet, in the field of nursing, laboratory studies are not always possible; therefore, methods such as intuition, experience, and abstract thinking also can be utilized (Zaccagnini & Pechacek, 2019). Employing a holistic approach to the process of acquiring and composing knowledge will yield the best results.
Finally, one of the major goals of the course which I managed to attain concerned being able to discover applications for communication of knowledge composed based on scientific and theoretical evidence from multi-dimensional sources. Essentially, the knowledge and evidence gathered as part of research must ultimately find a purposeful application in nursing practice. Yet, professionals often fail to establish a scenario that would imply utilizing a newly-created approach or information. Moreover, they also frequently cannot find a way to communicate their findings to the nursing community. The course taught me to properly discover applications for the communication of such knowledge and thus contribute to the accumulation of scientific evidence and understanding.
The course “Theoretical and Scientific Underpinnings” positively affected my perception of professional practice and my role as an advanced practice nurse. During the course, I managed to achieve several learning objectives, which ultimately advanced my expertise and enhanced my competencies. I discovered how to find and apply both theoretical and scientific concepts to my practice and utilize the evidence-based approach in delivering quality health services. Additionally, I realized the significance of using knowledge from different disciplines and evaluating information before applying it. Finally, the course enabled me to compose my own theories and scientific knowledge, as well as find applications for communicating the knowledge relying on multi-dimensional sources.
References
Butts, J. B, & Rich, K. L. (2017). Philosophies and theories for advanced nursing practice (3d ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Zaccagnini, M., & Pechacek, J. M. (2019). The doctor of nursing practice essentials: A new model for advanced practice Nursing (4th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.