Four Nursing Metaparadigms

This paper is going to focus on my interpretations of the four nursing metaparadigms; person, environment, health, and nursing. All four of these correlate to one another and can vary in meaning from person to person. The metaparadigms directly relate to a nurse’s values and way of care which affect many patients and other caregivers they associate themselves with.

Person

The nursing metaparadigm of person refers to the patient that a nurse gives care to. In my opinion, a nurse needs to have certain characteristics when approaching a patient; such as understanding, accommodating, involved, and passionate. Being a nurse may seem like a straightforward career to someone on the outside, however I believe caring for a patient requires a holistic

Food, water, and shelter are the basic human needs and should not be withheld from the patient’s treating process. The materials needed to help alleviate the patient’s pain should be of the upmost quality at all times. The elements surrounding a patient contribute to their healing as much as the emotional and psychological assistance. Making accommodations of the patient’s surroundings to satisfy their needs should always be a part of the caring procedure. If the patient is not accommodated for, they may feel disrespected or forgotten which brings me back to the person metaparadigm that needs to be met also. Changing only a few environmental components can change how a patient restores to health, regarding mental and physical health. For example, Florence Nightingale’s philosophy relied solely on the patient’s environment and she helped revolutionize the way nurses thought about a patient’s atmosphere and its effect on their

A patient’s overall health is not exclusively their physical health. Their health includes the body, mind, and emotion to make a whole and they all need to be balanced for a patient to be considered healthy again. This is achieved by a nurse and his/her ability to monitor these needs. Although a patient may seem to be physically healthy, my belief is that their other needs should be assessed as well before letting them out of one’s care. Some nurses may only leave their care at the end of the physical aspect, and this can have negative effects on their patients without the nurses even realizing. Also, after the assessment of the patient’s additional needs have been met, there needs to be a desire and attempt to prevent further illnesses from occurring. Without encouraging nurse to have a holistic view of a patient’s health and demonstrate it, many patients can form a negative prejudice of all nurses in their