My clinical setting is primarily intraprocedural nursing, and my secondary is PACU nurse. In both settings, my end goal as a nurse is to focus on the patient’s successful recovery. There are many circumstances where recovery is not possible due to various obstacles. For example, knowledge deficit, language barrier, lack of family support, homelessness, lack of finances, and religious and cultural boundaries are a few to name. Education is a critical factor in the recovery process. Then follows the reinforcement and follow through. The organizations need to improve on follow-up. Their primary focus is to get the patient in for surgery and discharge them in stable condition; what happens after the fact is neglected. My heart is in that follow-up phone call to check on the patient and listen to what is happening. Then, involve a social worker to see if this patient’s needs can be met.
In the above-stated situation, Virginia Henderson’s theory suits the best per my understanding. “As a patient receives treatment and is on the road to recovery, it’s important that the patient can take care of him or herself after being released from medical care. To that end, nurses should be caring for the patient while, at the same time, helping the patient become more independent and reach goals and milestones on the road to health (Petiprin, 2022).” This theory focuses on the problem I encounter in my daily practice.
My area of specialty is hemodialysis. The majority of the patients I care for are of the low-income, elderly, African-American population. One of the problems faced with care is patient education on disease management and prevention. The main causes of kidney disease in this population are poorly managed diabetes and hypertension. One solution to this problem is to improve patient education interventions. As healthcare providers, we have a major role in improving patient teaching regarding disease management and illness prevention. Several nursing theories focus on patient education for health promotion. One of those theories is The Self-Efficacy Theory.
The Self-Efficacy Theory, or Social Cognitive Theory, was developed in 1977 by a psychologist named Albert Bandura. Self-efficacy is one’s belief that their behaviors can produce desired effects. Bandura defined self-efficacy as “the individual’s perception of one’s ability to perform particular behaviors through four processes including cognitive, motivational, affective, and selection processes” (Shorey & Lopez, 2021). Behavior changes play a major role in disease management and illness prevention. Bandura felt that a person’s self-efficacy determines how they respond to problems. Persons with high efficacy are more likely to succeed when dealing with problems. Bandura listed three factors that make up a person’s self-efficacy; behavior, environment, and cognitive factors (Petiprin, 2023). When dealing with patient teaching, nurses must determine the patient’s level of cognition. Nurses should also determine what is the self-efficacy of their patients and tailor their teaching plans accordingly. Shorey and Lopez found that for patients with chronic medical conditions, higher levels of self-efficacy to manage their chronic conditions are related to higher health-related quality of life, reduced perceived stress, lesser anxiety and depressive symptoms, and lower symptom severity (2021).
Petiprin, A. (2023). Self-Efficacy Theory. Nursing Theory. https://nursing-theory.org/theories-and-models/self-efficacy-theory.php
Shorey, S. & Lopez, V. (2021). Self-Efficacy in a Nursing Context. In G. Haugan & M. Eriksson (Eds), Health Promotion in Health Care-Vital Theories and Research (Chapter 12). Cham Springer. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK585659/
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