Two practice concepts and five nursing theories essay

The prompt names five theories and asks how each is integrated into your philosophy and practice, and the word integrated is the one that decides the grade. Five sequential summaries of Leininger, Pender, Benner, role theory and change theory will read as a literature review and will miss what is being asked. Integration means the theories have to meet each other inside a single account of how you nurse. Benner's skill acquisition explains why your cultural assessment looks different now from how it looked in your first year; Pender's model explains what you do with what that assessment tells you; change theory explains why the intervention succeeded on one unit and stalled on another. Write the philosophy first, in your own voice, then show where each theory is already doing work in it. That order produces integration. The reverse order, theory by theory, produces five paragraphs that could belong to anyone.

The two practice-specific concepts are yours to choose and the choice sets the ceiling on the essay. A concept is not a topic and not a task; it is an idea with boundaries that you could define, recognise in a patient encounter and argue about. Presence, advocacy, vigilance, moral distress, therapeutic use of self, continuity, cultural humility, comfort and suffering all qualify. Wound care and discharge planning do not, because they are activities. The grading criteria ask you to identify at least two concepts specific to your own practice, so pick ones your setting makes visible: vigilance means something concrete in critical care, continuity means something concrete in community nursing, and moral distress means something different in each. Define each concept, name its attributes, say how you would know it was present or absent, and only then bring the literature to it. Say what your setting makes visible that another setting would hide, since that is what makes the concept yours.

Clinical examples carry two of the seven grading criteria between them, which is more weight than any other single element, and they are where most drafts go thin. One criterion asks for examples for each chosen concept; another asks that the examples illustrate the concept in a way that further clarifies your use of the conceptual material. The second is the harder one. An example that simply shows the concept happening is a description; an example that shows a boundary case, a moment where you had to decide whether the concept applied, is a clarification. Write examples with enough detail that a reader can see the decision point, and keep every patient de-identified. Two well-chosen encounters will do more than six sketches, and they give you something specific to hang the theory on when you return to it. Two encounters, written properly, will outperform six sketches every time here.

The numbered list of at least five propositions or assumptions is a separate criterion and it is the element most often left out or produced as an afterthought. A proposition is a claim your philosophy commits you to, stated so plainly it could be argued with: that cultural assessment is a continuing negotiation rather than a data-collection event, that a patient's stated priority outranks a protocol priority except where safety intervenes, that competence in a new setting resets to advanced beginner however senior you are. Write them as numbered sentences, not as headings, and make sure they follow from what you have already argued rather than introducing new material. Another criterion asks that the concepts be connected and integrated to reveal a meaningful sequence, so let the propositions carry that sequence explicitly. Number them as sentences, and check each one against what you have already argued rather than adding fresh claims at the end.

On execution, the record notes this essay is the first part of a longer piece that will later have to be integrated into one whole, so write it as something you can build on: consistent terminology, numbered propositions you can extend, and a stated philosophy you will not have to contradict later. The literature requirement is a minimum of five supporting sources and the criteria ask for documentation from the literature of nursing and other disciplines, so at least one source should sit outside nursing, which role theory and change theory both make easy. Use current APA, Times New Roman twelve point, double spaced. Keep the voice first person where you are describing your own practice and third person where you are reporting research, and do not let the two blur. Read the criteria back against your draft once before you submit, because seven of them are scored separately and each is worth eight points.