The following presents an essential concept of nursing, that patient personal and behavior-specific cognitions and affect must be understood in order for the nurse to provide optimal care to the patient. This concept is discussed as it relates to the philosophy and science of caring. Personal lived experience with knowledge of change and transition is included in the discussion. Roles and competencies of the Registered Nurse as they relate to the concept of needing to understand patient cognitions are noted and supported with primary resource articles, which provide information about nursing knowledge and application of the concept to practice. This is followed by a summary and conclusions.
Identification of the Concept of Nursing and Theoretical Framework
The essential concept of nursing for this paper is the notion that patient personal and behavior-specific cognitions and their affect must be understood in order for the nurse to provide optimal care to the patient. Pender's comprehensive model of health promotion can be used to explain the concept of nursing, which is the topic of this paper. In accordance with this model, patient cognitions and resulting emotional affect are important factors in patient care in all areas to include change and transition phases. The nurse must understand patient cognitions as they relate to these processes in order to ensure that the patient takes part in optimal health promoting behaviors and overcomes barriers to these actions. The nurse must understand these cognitions and help the patient modify dysfunctional cognitions with nursing action.
Pender noted that there are many opportunities for the Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) in health promotion and these require an understanding of patient cognitions in to ensure implementation of actions such as transition from the healthcare organization to the community (Pender, 2002). Pender's Health Promotion Model ident...