Abstract
The Middle range theory enhances nursing guidance, especially in daily practice and research. The theory relies on ideas focusing on limited dimensions towards attaining nursing reality. The logic of the middle range theory broadly relates to the philosophical perspective and the practice which involves conceptualizing the theory. The middle range theory is most applicable in the current nursing practice due to the limited scope based on less abstraction concerning the address of specific phenomena and concepts such as the reflective practice. The middle range sub-theories are measured by the name, generation, disciplinary perspective, model, and use in research. This theory is appreciated, especially in nursing, by offering solutions that might be hard for the nurses to make by themselves.
Introduction
The middle-range theory of nursing refers to a set of related ideas that focuses on the limited dimensions of reality in nursing. This is a combination of approaches based on intersectional practice and research to guide our nursing practice and the scholarly root associated with the nursing discipline.
Components of the theory
This theory primarily focuses on offering guidance to the daily nursing practice and referencing nursing needs. It is a theory that is also inclined to ensure that the patient care situation is taken care of. Thus, the middle range theory encompasses sub-theories such as the collaboration model, the idea of group authority, the context of system organization, the theory of maternal role accomplishment, nurse wound healing, and the theory of comfort (Peterson & Bredow, 2019).
The philosophical basis of worldview
This theory is briefly inclined to describe the concepts in practical nursing and the beliefs of discovery required when analyzing patients’ conditions regarding the logical view. The hypothesis and the beliefs are exceedingly documented, and a utility is rendered from this theory. This entails fair values that include the practice of research; hence the belief taken from this theory helps in bringing up proper reasoning, especially in the field of research and the practice that has to be conducted (Pellathy, Mollenkopf, and Stank, 2018). This philosophical basis entails interactive philosophy through proper communication between the nurses and the patients, which aids in boosting the interactive level, thus improving the service quality.
The theory philosophy aligns with the need for nurses to articulate their needs in their different specialization areas, which will help them advance their health services in conjunction with the patient. Using a deterministic approach in nursing helps enhance the execution of proper health services. As a result, it can be considered that nurses need to focus on transformative views, which will help them attain a healthcare advancement offered to the patients, hence improving their overall healthcare conditions in society (Peterson & Bredow, 2019). This shows that it is the work of the nurses to be united when performing duties, conducting research, and executing service delivery which is one of the ways that will help in quality advancement offered to the patients in the community.
The structural aspect of the theory
The theory’s structural aspect largely depends on the theoretical framework, which includes the integration of the theory into the empirical research, making the theory a sociological theorizing approach. The theory starts with an empirical phenomenon in which the statement is generated and verified using different data. At this practical level, gathering data entails using questionnaires, interviews, observation, and narratives. This helps conduct additional studies and practices (Pellathy et al., 2018). As a result, the theory primarily emphasizes the Idea implementation, which can be gathered to ensure that different approaches are executed. This goes hand in hand with the philosophical levels that greatly define the ethical principle that describes the theory and the principles for presenting nursing practice to the patient role.
Area of practice for the theory
This model is quite functional when looking at the areas such as the turnover rate and nursing shortages. This theory helps identify the nursing strain and ways they can manage them effectively. These areas align with the middle-range model as they help improve nursing development and advise the nursing discipline (Shamsuddin & Azwa, 2020). The other area of interest that the theory applies is ethical practice, which helps in offering quality nursing services to patients. Also, other areas include clinical practice, whereby the middle range theory gives diverse ideas that will necessitate practitioners to patient relations.
This theory fits in a nurse practice setting, such as it helps nursing practitioners achieve high-quality performance when they are divided into different levels of nursing. This improves their competency in a way that will improve how the patients might be handled. A good practice setting helps ensure that the patients are handled with care and that the safety maintenance of the patients is also upheld (Pellathy et al., 2019). This improves clinical practice competency, boosting the population’s global health conditions.
Strength and weaknesses
Based on the strength, the theory offers a platform for resolving and encountering situations. The theory offers a platform in which a situation can be analyzed through the formulation of proper decisions regarding the patient’s health to reach an environment anchored at service delivery. The theory also offers views and suggestions that help the nurses correctly care for the patients (Peterson & Bredow, 2019). This is reached through the nurses improving their professional levels as well as improving their educational levels. This theory’s weakness is based on its insufficient offer towards the patient’s psychological and social health and the environment’s cause on the two factors. This is because the theory assumes that sickening is continuous, connecting it to the environment.
Use of the model in clinical services
The theory is widely submerged in clinical practice through a comfort model that directs the use of the comfort-based programs offered to nurses and patients. This ensures that there is a reach out of the services to the patients. The theory also has improved the nurses’ professional skills, which has helped them correctly perform their duties, especially when working in maternal care (Peterson & Bredow, 2019). More so, this theory has been at the forefront in ensuring that clinicians have a platform unto which they can interpret the clinical data and develop suitable plans and solutions anchored at the offering of suitable solutions that will improve patients’ quality of life in the community. This shows that applying this theory has helped reduce the rate of maternal fatalities and malpractices.
Evaluation of the theory
The theory helps understand the nursing practice applied by medical specialists by offering ideas useful in performing several nursing responsibilities. For instance, through this theory, the nurses have a place where they can refer to their needs before they can conduct research as well as other activities. The difficulties in working with this theory are related to the weakness that comes with it. For instance, the theory does not provide a complete insight into specific health problems, their causes, and how they might affect patients. The theory does not emphasize the patient’s general well-being, including issues contributing to the upsurge of some medical conditions. One thing that would make this theory workable and applicable for all is changing its form to focus on the health issues and aspects that might be affecting the patients (Shamsuddin & Azwa, 2020). This will ensure that there is a reach out of a wide range of ideas that will enrich good nursing practice.
References
Pellathy, D. A., In, J., Mollenkopf, D. A., & Stank, T. P. (2018). Middle-range theorizing on logistics customer service. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management. Retrieved from: https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1013&context=mgt_articles
Peterson, S., & Bredow, T. S. (2019). Middle range theories: Application to nursing research and practice. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Retrieved from: https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=AM-xy5LRzMsC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=Middle+Range+Theory+Utilization&ots=K4D8zwVwmL&sig=SANWJSUgWSHelrdWURb1tsDhDHo
Shamsuddin, B. M., & Azwa, K. (2020). Role of leadership in empowering nurses’ professional identity to achieve research utilization: a grounded theory study. retrieved from: https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/37565