The nursing profession has continuously evolved since its founding.

The need to elevate

the care that is rendered to the patients, has led to nurses to adopt different practices and/

research more on how to improve their profession. All of these did not happen overnight, many

poured their time and effort in constantly studying on what, how, and why certain things affect

outcomes in the delivery of care. Through their hard work, theories, concepts, and frameworks

were created, that now guides nurses in their work. In this paper, we will be able to identify and

know more on theories, conceptual model their differences and importance to the nursing

profession.

Theory is often defined as an abstract generalization that explains how phenomena are

interrelated. As classically defined, theories consist of two or more concepts and a set of

propositions that form a logically interrelated system, providing a mechanism for deducing

hypotheses (Nurse key, n.d.). It can also be defined as belief, policy, or procedure proposed or

followed as the basis of action (Kathleen Gaines, 2020). Theories provide the foundation of

nursing practice and are essential to the care of the patients. There are also the different types of

theories, the grand theories, middle-ranged theories, and practice level nursing theories. The

grand nursing theory, have the broadest scopes that addresses a variety of concepts (University

of Milwaukee, n. d). A middle-ranged nursing theory on one hand is a theory that that drill down

into specific areas of nursing rather than deal with sweeping concepts. They can emerge from

nursing practice, research, or from the theories of similar disciplines (Kathleen Gaines, 2020).

Lastly the practice ranged theories, which were developed for use within specific nursing

situations. They focus on nursing interventions and the impact of nursing practice (McMaster

University, 2021).
 There is also what we call as non-nursing theories, theories from other disciplines that are

applied in the nursing practice, or what is called as borrowed theories. According to McEwen

and Wills (2014), “borrowed theories or practice theories can readily be used to describe and

explain phenomena that affect nursing and concluded that to limit nurses to using only nursing

theories in nursing research is shortsighted”. The value of shared or borrowed theory is that it

permits nursing to validate, interpret, expand, and add it in the nursing conditions

(Uniquewritersbay, 2017). It is notable that in nursing practice, that not only one theory, but an

array of theory is applied to one person or as a guide to an institution.

Another thing that guides the continuous evolution of nursing are conceptual models.

A set of concepts, with propositions that describe them, express the relationship between them, o

r set forth the basic assumptions of the model (The free dictionary, n,d). a conceptual model of

nursing is defined as a set of relatively abstract and general concepts and propositions about

those concepts that address the concepts of the nursing metaparadigm (Fawcett & De Santo-

Madeya, 2013). It also provides a structure for the study which helps the researcher to organize

the process of investigation.

A conceptual model and a theory differ in terms that, concept is an abstract notion and

does not need to be tested while a theory is a collection of explanations about a particular

subject, and it must be able to be tested and approved or disapproved. Concepts are prone to

change, theories although not considered as facts, can be named as the best possible educated

guess to a certain phenomenon. Also, a theory is an explanation that is supported by significant

evidence while concepts does not have such evidence backing it.

Other than theories and concepts, paradigms and metaparadigms have also contributed in

shaping what nursing practice is today. Paradigms, as Kuhn (2017) argued, determine the study
questions, interview methodology, data collection methods, and interpretation of study results.

Paradigms shape individual behaviors, influences of social phenomena, and attitudes of

professional groups. Therefore, paradigms serve as a guide for professional education,

philosophy, morals, and ethical principles (Özkan & Akduran, 2014). Metaparadigm, on the

other hand, "is a statement or group of statements identifying its relevant phenomena" (Fawcett,

1984). It can also be defined as a set of concepts and propositions that sets forth the phenomena

with which a discipline is concerned. A metaparadigm is the most general statement of a

discipline and functions as a framework in which the more restricted structures of conceptual

models develop. Paradigms and metaparadigm differ in a way that metaparadigm in nursing

encompasses four central concepts which are; the person, environment, health, and nursing all

different but at the same time interrelated.

In the end, Nursing does not only focus on the patient, but all the factors that could affect

the health of the patient. Nursing is continuously advancing thru the continuous researches that

lead to new concepts and theories, that improve nursing practice.

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