You may be thinking - "Why should I use nursing theory in my practice? I didn't learn about nursing theory in school."
This is an excellent question and highlights a failure of our nursing education process - lack of recognition of our own unique knowledge.
You may or may not know that one of the criteria for being a profession is the existence, and use, of knowledge unique to that profession. Thus, if you don't use nursing theory on which to base your practice, you are helping to diminish nursing from a profession to a vocation.
I suspect that many non-nursing health care professionals already believe that nursing is not a profession and would love to have it viewed as a vocation. However, it saddens me when nurses support this view, often unintentionally.
I challenge you that you are probably already using nursing theory as a basis for your practice without even knowing it. Using nursing knowledge in your practice is incredibly easy. If you work with patients to develop and achieve goals, you are using Imogene King's framework. If you focus on patients improving their self-care, you are working within Dorothea Orem's work. If you prefer to help patients adapt to whatever environmental issues they face, you are using Roy's adaptation model. These are just a few examples. If you write me at sieloffc@hotmail.com, I believe that I can highlight a nursing theorist that you are using, often without making that use visible.
Think about it and let me know. Christina Sieloff