NURSING THEORISTS

NURS100. GROUP PROJECT.

BRYANT AND STRATTON COLLEGE

Adazhia Bush, Megan Widener, Devyn Daniels, & Kevin McNamee
 In our skit we will discuss the importance of nursing theorists and their contributions to

what nursing is today. Our nursing theorists are Hildegard Peplau, Virginia Henderson, Jean

Watson, and Florence Nightingale.

There is a lot that could be said about Hildegard Peplau. She was a nurse for 50 years and

through those years she accomplished so much. Born in 1909 she was a woman who chose to

live her life in a non-traditional way. Deciding she would never marry she still chose to have a

daughter all while pursuing and excelling in her career as a nurse. Peplau was a woman that

“transformed nursing from an occupation where nurses did to and for patients, to professionals

where nurses worked with patients” (Callaway, 2002, p.2) therefore creating what is now known

as the nurse-patient relationship. Although, Peplau held many positions throughout her career,

she is best known for her nursing theories and the work she did in mental health, because of that

she is known as “The mother of psychiatric nursing” (Callaway, 2002, p.1). Peplau helped

develop the teachings for graduate and specialty nursing education. Throughout her career

Peplau kept notes, recordings on all her findings, with that information and her clinical

experience she was able to write a book. Her records and book are a big part of nursing

education today. (Gregg, 1999, para 7)

Virginia Henderson was born in Kanas City, Missouri on November 30th, 1897. Though

she did not receive a diploma and delayed getting into Nursing school. She did, however, join the

Army branch of the military, joining the Army School of Nursing in Washington, D.C in 1918.

She graduated in 1921 and practiced nursing at the Henry Street Settlement in New York City.

(Younas, A. & Sommer, J. 2015, Biography of Theorist). According to the American Nursing

Association “She holds twelve honorary doctoral degrees and has received the International

Council of Nursing's Christianne Reimann Prize, which is considered nursing's most prestigious
award.” In 1924, she had begun her career as the first and only teacher in the school of nursing at

the Norfolk Protestant Hospital in Virginia. Macmillan Publishing Company asked her to write a

new (1939) fourth edition of the Harmer textbook which became a standard reference (American

Association History of Nursing. 3rd paragraph).

She lived long enough to complete a set of widely translated and influential works, the

likes of which were last written by Florence Nightingale. She spoke of the necessity of a

universal, comprehensive health service for all, the absurdity of for-profit health care and for

patients to keep and contribute to their own health records (American Association History of

Nursing. 9th paragraph). According to the American Nursing Association, she has earned the

title of “the foremost nurse of the 20th century”. In 1979, the Connecticut Nurses Association

established the Virginia Henderson Award for outstanding contributions to nursing research.

Henderson was the first to receive this honor. Over time, she has advocated humane and holistic

care for patients, raised important issues in health care, authored one of the most accurate

definitions of nursing, promoted nursing research as the basis for nursing knowledge, and above

all, represented nursing with dignity, honor, and grace (American Nursing Association). She died

at the Connecticut Hospice March 19th, 1996.

Jean Watson was one of the nursing theorists that paved the way. Watson was the founder

of the Jean Watson theory of caring. Could you imagine being taken care of by a nurse who’s

unprofessional, not empathetic, or uninformative? There was a time in nursing history where we

didn’t have policies and theories in place to put these actions to an end. Jean Watson is the

reason why nurses should “integrate their compassion and spirituality in their practices an

adjunct to the science of medicine.” Watson theory developed from seven assumptions beginning

with the idea of effective giving can only take place on an interpersonal level between patients
and nurses. Patients should not be viewed as just sick bodies, but patients should actually be

viewed as humans even while sick. The next assumptions are caring results in patient

satisfaction, leads to family and patient growth, requires acceptance, creates an environment in

which people have wide decisions, complements curative healing and is at the very care of

nursing. Jean Watson received many awards and distinguished honors, she received seven

doctorate degrees throughout her career and made published books for her revised curative

theories.
Hildegard Peplau References:
Callaway, B. J. (2002). Hildegard Peplau: Psychiatric Nurse of the Century. Springer Publishing
Company.
Gregg, D. E. (1999). Hildegard E. Peplau: Her contributions. Perspectives in Psychiatric Care,
35(3), 10.
Purdy, E. R., PhD, & Popan, E. M. (2018). Hildegard Peplau. Salem Press Biographical
Encyclopedia.

Virginia Henderson References:

American Association for the History of Nursing

https://www.aahn.org/henderson

American Nursing Association

http://ojin.nursingworld.org/FunctionalMenuCategories/AboutANA/Honoring-

Nurses/NationalAwardsProgram/HallofFame/19962000Inductees/virginiahenderson.html

Younas, A. & Sommer, J. (2015). Integrating Nursing Theory and Process into Practice;

Virginia’s Henderson Need Theory. International Journal of Caring Sciences, 8(2), 443.

http://www.internationaljournalofcaringsciences.org/docs/23_ahtisham.pdf

Jean Watson Reference:

Ray, L. (2018, December 19). How to integrate Jean Watson’s theory of caring into nursing
practice. Retrieved from https://careertrend.com/how-6644521-intergrate-theory-caring-nursing-
practice.html

Florence Nightingale References: