Imogene King’s Goal Attainment  Coursework Example

Imogene King’s Goal Attainment Theory
Student’s Name
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Imogene King’s Goal Attainment Theory
Nursing theory is a collection of definitions, concepts, assumptions, relationships, or propositions emanating from nursing models or derived from other fields and predicts a purposive, logical perspective of occurrences by structuring specific interconnections among concepts with the view of describing and explaining nursing (Yancey, 2015). Nursing theory assists nurses in differentiating what needs to make up the basis of practice by explicitly describing healing, and this further helps the nursing profession to keep its professional limits. Besides, nursing theory consists of four standard concepts that shape and determine the practice of treatment. These concepts are the individual/patient/person, health, environment, and nursing. The most important model is the individual or patient, and the patient, therefore, is the focus of nursing. The paper selects Imogene King’s theory of goal attainment, which is a type of middle-range theory. Besides, the first section focuses on the importance of nursing theory in general, including how nursing theory is useful to the nursing profession. The second section gives the summary of the selected nursing theory, including a detailed description of the nursing metaparadigms. The third section discusses how the chosen profession nursing practice area can apply King’s goal attainment theory. The fourth section is the conclusion, including a summary of the main points.

Importance of Nursing Theory
The study of nursing theory should be included in a Master’s program because the lessons on concepts and models of the philosophies offer the students pursuing their Master’s course with the advanced theoretical knowledge to prepare them for a broad range of non-clinically and clinically related professional nurse roles. In the fluctuating and complex healthcare setting, it is important to have clinical nurse specialists and nurse practitioners with skills in different areas of nursing. Nurses who have attained a Master’s degree in the discipline should also be able to practice from a holistic approach. They also have to apply the advanced nursing and other knowledge sources to enhance system transformation and the nursing quality and healthcare service via a variety of roles in nursing research, administration, education, and health policy (Yancey, 2015). Thus, studying the nursing theory is included in a Master’s program to equip the nursing students with the advance knowledge that can enhance the practical skills of nursing.
Nursing theory is useful to the nursing profession because all healthcare professionals offer care, but the approach to attaining goals for the patient care varies. Thus, the values that assist in supporting practice and yield nursing knowledge differ from other professions. The nursing theory can enable patients and other healthcare practitioners to know the unique influences that nursing offers, by providing nursing with a separate identity in healthcare. Further, the nursing theory permits nurses to recognize their role and purpose in the healthcare context. This importance is supported by various scholars who note that, to progress in the nursing profession, it is essential that nursing institutions and hospitals pursue a specific theoretical model and promote the application of the model in the clinical practice by these nurses (da Silva & Ferreira, 2016). The nursing theory further has a contribution to the research methodology and professional advancement for the nursing students, which is in the case of a Master’s program. The nursing theory helps enhance student’s understanding of the nursing paradigms and advance their assessment and analytic skills.
Further, the nursing theory can be used to separate the nursing profession from other healthcare professions in that nursing concentrates primarily on patient care and outcomes. Because the nurses are the developers of the models, the content will principally aim towards concepts that relate to nursing. Other healthcare professions have theories that relate to the patient, yet they may not account for holistic perspectives on patient outcomes or care (Yancey, 2015). For example, the medical theories focus on diagnosing and treating the patient, while nursing theories relate more to caring for the patient and supporting them to enhance their health outcome.
A concern regarding the use of nursing theory within the profession is that these theories are frequently modified. The healthcare profession fluctuates so often, and that new studies are incorporated every time. Therefore, the nursing theories that have been implemented may need to be adjusted at some interval to show new evidence and research to acquire a basis of practice (Yancey, 2015). With no adjustment of nursing theories, nurses can risk having an insufficiently effective practicing that cannot offer quality patient care that is based on current research and evidence.
Summary of the Selected Theory
The selected theory is King’s theory of goal attainment developed by Imogene King. The model was initially published in 1961 and the latest edition in 1981. The goal attainment concept describes the interpersonal relationship system where an individual grows and develops to realize personal life objectives (Caceres, 2015). The notion is one of the middle-range theories and was based on King’s conceptual model that consisted of three interrelating systems, namely, the social, interpersonal, and personal structures. The individual system includes concepts such as the self, perception, body image, growth and development, time, and space. On the other hand, the interpersonal system comprises concepts such as the role, interaction, stress, transaction, and communication (Caceres, 2015). Finally, the social arrangement contains concepts such as the authority, organization, status, power, and decision-making. Concerning the metaparadigms, the theory addresses individual model as a social being that is emotional and sensible. An individual can think, perceive, choose, feel, make decisions, set goals, and choose ways of attaining the goals. King mentions that a person has three basic needs, including the need for care that can prevent a disease, the need for the health records that are available when required and can be applied, and the need for care when individuals cannot help themselves. The second concept is health. The model involves active life involvements of a person, which means a continuous adjustment to stressors in the external and internal environment via optimum utilization of a person’s resources to attain optimal ability for daily life (da Silva & Ferreira, 2016). The environment concept refers to the human interactions background. It consists of the internal environment which changes energy to allow a person to adapt to continuous external environment transformations, as well as the external environment that entails informal and formal actions (Leon‐Demare, MacDonald, Gregory, Katz & Halas, 2015).
Lastly, the nursing concept involves a process of interaction, action, and reaction through which a patient and nurse exchange information about their views in a nursing event. King argued that the goal of a nurse is to assist persons in sustaining their health to be active in their roles. Also, she held that the nurse domain includes encouraging, upholding, and restoring health, and care those injured, sick, and dying. Again, the professional nurse has the function of interpreting information in a nursing procedure to organize, execute, and assess nursing care (da Silva & Ferreira, 2016). Subsequently, the reason for choosing this theory is that it encourages the participation of the patient in the arrangement of their care. King’s philosophy can be of potential use in the education sphere since it offers knowledge on the ways of attaining a health care goal which includes the inputs of patients. The theory can be utilized in nursing education programs by having a curriculum that focuses on the advancement of individuals’ knowledge concerning the social, interpersonal, and person systems, and knowledge about healthcare systems and families (Caceres, 2015). Furthermore, the theory can be applied in educating members of healthcare team on the need to develop effective communication with patients, focus their roles on patient outcomes, and set realistic goals. King’s theory can also be used in patient education to enable them to realize the need of taking part in their care. Patients can be educated and empowered to allow them to understand the value of their collaboration with the nurses and factors that shape their care.
Application of specific Nursing Theory to the selected Specialty Track Area (Education)
King’s theory of goal attainment can be applied in education (the staff development area). The concepts of the model, including the goal of nursing and focus on the patient, can be used in staff development to equip nurses and other healthcare practitioners with the skills necessary for realizing their goals, which should relate to patient care and outcome. The theory can also be utilized in education to teach the nursing staff on the interpersonal relationships with the patients, communication skills, how to set achievable goals, and methods of attaining the established goals to sustain quality patient care and outcome (Leon‐Demare et al. 2015). Through the understanding of the theory, the nursing staff will develop their abilities to design, execute, and review nursing care for the success of the health care system and patient satisfaction improvement. Further, the theory explains that nurses improve their knowledge and skills of assessment while they interact with the patients. The assessment skills imparted to the nursing staff can help them understand the process of data collection concerning the patient’s growth and development, self-perception, and current health condition.
The first example of the application of the theory in staff development is nursing research. Nurses and other healthcare professionals can carry out clinical research processes or take part in collaborative nursing research that can help them understand and develop evidence-based nursing knowledge as suggested by the goal attainment theory (McQueen, Cockroft & Mullins, 2017). The activities might include a Master’s dissertation competition that is related to one’s career path. The research activities should involve identifying how patients can be interacted with, how patients can be empowered to offer their views concerning their health status, and how to implement goals that are directed towards giving quality nursing care.
The second example of the application of the theory in staff development is teaching. Teaching can involve planning for an educational conference, lecture, or presentation. The goal attainment theory application can be supported by delivering a tutoring or lecturing session to the healthcare professionals, presenting a speech at a professional seminar, and involving in thesis committee course. Teaching should be tied to training to equip nurses and other healthcare professionals with relevant skills and expertise for meeting the organizational, personal, and patient care goals (McQueen, Cockroft & Mullins, 2017). Teaching and training programs should include the metaparadigms concepts of the theory, including the nursing function, to ensure that the activities are related to the suggestions of the model.
Conclusion
Nursing theory includes a set of concepts, propositions, or definitions that are derived from nursing or other disciples’ models, and projects a systematic view of phenomena. Besides, nursing theory is important to the nursing profession because it helps nurses understand their role and purpose in the arena of health care. It also has a contribution to the research methodology and professional development for the nursing learners. Aside from that, King’s goal attainment theory has emphasized that the nursing practice consists of three interconnected systems, namely, the social, interpersonal and personal structures. Also, the goal attainment theory can be applied in the staff development in that the concepts of the model, including the goal of nursing and focus on the patient, can equip nurses and other healthcare practitioners with the skills necessary for realizing their goals, which should relate to patient care and outcome. Finally, writing this assignment has helped me learn the various nursing theories and theorists and how each of the models can be applied in the healthcare setting and the nursing profession. I have also realized that nursing theories, especially the middle-range and grand concepts, can be used across different disciplines such as leadership and education.
References
Caceres, B. A. (2015). King’s theory of goal attainment: exploring functional status. Nursing Science Quarterly, 28(2), 151-155.da Silva, R. N., & Ferreira, M. D. A. (2016). Users’ participation in nursing care: An element of the theory of goal attainment. Contemporary Nurse, 52(1), 74-84.
Leon‐Demare, K., MacDonald, J., Gregory, D. M., Katz, A., & Halas, G. (2015). Articulating nurse practitioner practice using King’s theory of goal attainment. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 27(11), 631-636.
McQueen, L., Cockroft, M., & Mullins, N. (2017). Imogene King’s theory of goal attainment and the millennial nurse: An important mentoring tool for nurse educators. Teaching and Learning in Nursing, 12(3), 223-225.
Yancey, N. R. (2015). Why teach nursing theory?. Nursing Science Quarterly, 28(4), 274-278.