NR 501 Week 3 Discussion-Steps of Concept Analysis Empirical Referents

There are many ways to promote adaptation and measure a patient’s response to disease or chronic illness. One empirical referent is providing cancer patients with a functional assessment tool. This tool is called the Facit-Pal 14 questionnaire[ CITATION Meh17 \l 1033 ]. This distress tool is used to evaluate quality of life. Providing This distress questionnaire measures signs and symptoms related to receiving a new cancer diagnosis and life changes. It also measures the patient’s quality of life-related to their cancer diagnosis. This distress questionnaire is often used to measure the need for patient support. Nurses can help the patient adapt to illness by referring the patient to the necessary services related to the questionnaire results. This may include social work, pain management, and palliative care. To measure the effectiveness of the referrals, patients may be resurveyed after receiving help from the referrals. After implementing the referrals, an improved functional tool score will help measure the effectiveness of the patient’s adaptation and coping mechanisms with a support team in place.

Construct Cases

 One model case in the article explored Roy’s adaptation Model as it related to Physical activities in older adults. Rogers concluded that although all modes of adaptation are important, the mode that would assist the patient in adapting the most in the given clinical scenario was the physiologic mode[ CITATION Rog12 \l 1033 ]. This article highlighted using mind-body practices that blend physical movement and deep breathing exercises to encourage physical activity among sedentary older adults. These exercises are thought to improve health benefits, including strengthening muscles and improving balance using a mind-body approach[ CITATION Rog12 \l 1033 ].

This intervention was chosen as the primary solution to help the body adapt to age-related decreased physical activity. Coping, education, and support were useful attributes in this scenario. This mode focused on mind, body, and soul and concluded that enhancing spirituality and self-efficacy increased strength endurance in older patients. This further proves that the utilization of theory in clinical practice is important. A borderline case in the same scenario would be a patient not receptive to learning and not agreeable to education services. This patient could receive the same services but may not have the same outcome if he is not receptive to learning. This patient may not be able to adapt to their illness.

One contrary case is resistance to adaptation. This is evidenced in the article related to patients making end-of-life decisions. Zhang identifies that women were more likely to be more adaptable to end-of-life decisions[ CITATION Zha13 \l 1033 ]. Women were also more likely to have their living will complete than men. Zhang correlates that patients who prepared a living will in advance showed signs of better-coping mechanisms and adaptability to end-of-life decisions[ CITATION Zha13 \l 1033 ]. One may conclude that because females are more likely to complete a living will, they have a better chance of developing coping mechanisms and adapting to illness more efficiently.

Theoretical Applications of the Concept

Concept analysis aims to show how concept adaptation is relevant to nursing theory. Patients are in a vulnerable situation when dealing with illness. They must adapt and rely completely on someone else to guide their decisions and needs. This could be full reliance on family, nurses, and physicians, or some may not have family support. Either way, they will have to adapt to their new situation. Roy’s adaptation model helps guide practice in health promotion and gives clinicians a theoretical model to guide interventions in patient care[ CITATION Rog12 \l 1033 ]. Nurses must also be able to adapt to the individual patient’s circumstances. The nurse’s versatility and ability to adapt is usually the behavior that gives the patient a sense of hope, trust, and comfort during difficult times.

Conclusion

 Adaptation from Roy’s adaptation model can be used in many scenarios, including clinical situations in hospital settings. This may include Code blues, rapid responses, deaths, Births, combative patients & families due to illnesses. These different emotions and clinical situations require that nurses and patients adapt to the scenario. The ability to shift behavior and actions specific to each patient is important. Nurses have to individualize care, interventions, and treatment to the needs of each patient. Roy’s adaptation model helps to individualize patient care. This model helps to bring theory to practice using assessments, intervention, and patient education. In my adva