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Applying The Kenney's Five Steps Into My Practice

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Theory-Based Practice Nursing was, for my sixteen year old self, taking care of the sick. Little did I know the complexities of that definition. Still, taking care of the sick was interesting enough to make nursing my major. I started practicing nursing years ago. However, I still struggle defining and explaining my profession to others. I usually start by differentiating nursing from medicine. Nurses see patients as humans rather than a disease that needs treatment (Zaccagnini & White, 2014, p. 15). However, as I advance my career, I must actively incorporate nursing theory into my practice. Nursing theory gives a foundation to understand patients and their health problems better. The use of nursing theory provides a framework to evaluate nurses’ interventions on a higher standard (Zaccagnini & White, 2014). Kenney described five steps to follow once the decision to include nursing theory has being made. This paper will explore the process of applying the Kenney’s five steps into my practice. As I advance my career to the doctoral level, nursing theory should define my practice. Nursing theories help professional nurses to create a unique plan of care to address unique patients’ needs. Zaccagnini and White (2014) describe five steps given by Kenney as follows: 1. Consider your personal values and beliefs about nursing, clients, health, and environment. 2. Examine the underlying assumptions, values, and beliefs of various nursing models, and how the major concepts, are

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