In this paper you will select a nursing concept from the list provided below.
Caring
Comfort
Coping
Empathy
Empowerment and powerlessness
Hardiness and resilience
Dignity
Empathy
Facilitation
Fatigue
Recovery
Grief
Diversity
Humour
Loneliness
Shame
Suffering
Trust
Vulnerability
Body Image
Chronic Illness: Stigma
Life span issues of the nurse
Palliative care: children/ adolescents/ older adults
The application paper should include:
N.B. Theory identified in 6. does not refer to Nursing Theory or Theorists (e.g. Watson Roy and their models). It refers to the scientific information contained in the scholarly readings – those in all readings listed with the class concept and/or any scholarly material related to the concept you have chosen.
Length of paper: 5-6 typewritten pages (excluding title page and reference pages).
Due date of paper: Week 9.
Provided below is a detailed explanation of the requirements of each of the above sections (# 1-9). Should you have any questions about your paper please be sure that you contact your instructor and ask your questions.
Detailed Requirements for Paper
The following provides you with a detailed explanation of the requirements for the paper. Consider this to be the recipe for success in the writing of your paper. I encourage you to print the details included below and follow them carefully as you construct your paper.
Step 1
You will need to select 1 concept from the list of concepts that are provided above. In consideration of your choice of concept you are encourage to think about one clinical situation you will be presenting/ exploring/ discussing in your paper and ensure that the two are compatible if they are not
Step 2- Description of Clinical Situation
Write a description of the clinical situation that you are going to present in the paper. This description should not be more than 1/2 page in length. Within this description you should provide an overview of the situation so that the reader has a brief but clear understanding of what occurred in the situation.
Once you have done this reflect on what you have written and make sure that your description includes the two issues that you are going to talk about latter so that your instructor can clearly see that they existed in the situation.
For example if your paper was about the concept of Music Therapy (note: this is not a concept being covered this year in this course) three issues that might be part of the clinical situation may be: 1) the client experienced a decrease in pain with the use of music therapy; 2) a sense of empowerment with the ability to choose his music and 3) the physiological impact on his blood pressure and pulse from his listening to music.
It is important to remember that sometimes a concept can become an issue in another concept. For example stigma maybe an issue in the concept of body image just as powerlessness maybe an issue in chronic illness.
It is important that the two issues of the concept you are exploring are present in the paper. Remember this is an application paper you will be exploring the two issues of the concept through how they presented in the clinical situation not how they present in general within society.
Please note that a definition of a clinical situation for this paper is: the events of 1 client within 1 time frame. This means that you will be talking about 1 person’s experiences during 1 episode/ event of their life.
There are a few clinical situations that have been received in some papers in the past that were not acceptable clinical situations and thus this was reflected in the students’ grades. These included but were not limited to:
Remember that this is an application paper you are exploring the concept through the lens of your experience as a nurse and your interactions with a client. This section should not be longer then 1 page in length.
Step 3- Relevance of topic/ situation to Me Personally and Professionally
This step is reflective in nature. We are asking you to reflect on and identify why you chose this concept/ clinical situation to talk about. There was something that stood out above all the other concepts/ experiences that you have had during your professional life and I am interested in hearing about this.
We are interested in hearing about the professional relevance. For example how will this exploration allow you to grow professionally or what impact did the situation have on you professionally?
We are also interested in hearing how the situation impacted on you as a person. This section in your paper should be no longer than 1/2 page in length.
Step 4
You have previously identified your concept and the 2 issues of the 1 concept that you will be exploring discussing and analyzing in the clinical situation. It is at this point I recommend that you carry out a review of the literature. Please do not use the words I carried out research on the topic in your paper this is not a correct statement to make or to include in your paper. Should you wish you could say I reviewed the available literature on the topic.
I suggest that you gather the articles that are relevant to the 1 concept and each of the two issues and make 2 piles: one pile of articles for each of the issues. As you go through each article in each pile take 2 colored highlighters and mark the content that is relevant to issue 1 (highlight in red) and the content that is relevant to issue 2 (highlight in blue). Once you have done this you have easy color-coded access to content that is relevant to each issue.
The articles that you use/ include in your paper should be within 5 published years unless they are seminal and then they can be older.
Step 5 – Identification discussion and analysis of the two issues
During this step you will do the following:
Once you have done this for each of the issues go back to the one page documents and add the relevant theory/ content from the articles you have selected. It is important that the content that you include be relevant to the issue as it has been presented in the clinical situation. For example if the issue in your clinical situation is about a 9 year old who is experiencing stigma from friends it would not be appropriate to include content that discusses stigma that older adults experience from their friends.
Each of the two issues (within the clinical situation) should be identified/ presented and discussed and analyzed. During the analysis process the theory/content from relevant articles (6 sources) is integrated into the analysis- to provide you and the reader with greater understanding of the issue within the situation.
For example you might want to talk about how a specific excerpt of content from an article:
The theoretical content must be clearly related/ linked back to the situation you are discussing. For example if you are talking about an issue of family support and yet the theory you are presenting is talking about support from distant friends although this theory maybe interesting and informative it is not relevant to the issue.
We always encourage students (including ourselves when writing papers) to look back at what theory (content) that we have included and to ensure that it is relevant for the issues being discussed and if it has nothing to do and does not support my analysis and discussion of that issue we remove it and look for more relevant theory that is specific to what we are wanting to discus.
We encourage you to go back and ensure that you link each piece of theory (discuss it within the context of the issue) as you present in the paper to show the relevance/ your understanding.
This section should be about 2 pages in length.
Step 6 – Discussion/ analysis of how future practice may be influenced
In this section you will discuss how your analysis of the clinical situation and theory presented in the paper may influence your future nursing practice. I encourage you to bring examples from your analysis section (the previous section). This section should be about 3/4 pages in length.
Step 7 – Conclusion or summary
In this section you need to first make the decision to write either 1) a conclusion for your paper or 2) a summary. Your decision should be reflected in the heading you use. So if you are choosing to write a summary the heading used should be: Summary and if you are writing a conclusion then the heading should be: Conclusion.
The two are very distinct. A summary provides the reader with an overview of some of the key elements in the paper. A conclusion is an afterthought sometimes reflective in nature providing the reader with insight to your final aha of the paper. Both are considered acceptable and receive the same weight in the grading process.
This section should be about 1/2 page in length.
Step 8 – Introduction
You maybe asking why we have suggested that you wait to write the introduction until after you have written the paper? The reason for this is that your introduction should provide an overview of what will be in the paper and what the reader has to look forward to. Some would say you really cannot say what will be in your paper until you write it.
Your introduction should include the following:
Some additional considerations for the paper
Headings:
The following headings should be used in your paper.
Introduction
Description of Clinical Situation
Discussion of Relevance of Clinical Situation/ Topic to Student Both Personally & Professionally
Identification Discussion and Analysis of 2 Issues of the Concept Within the Clinical Situation
Issue 1:
Issue 2:
Discussion/ Analysis of How My Future Practice May be Influenced
Conclusion/ Summary
feedback sheet for the paper
The grading/ feedback sheet that will be utilized is provided below.
Introduction:
Yes
No
Provides an overview of paper
Identifies concept to be addressed in paper
Identifies issues of the concept in the clinical situation
Clearly states
Concisely states
Description of clinical situation:
Yes
No
Provides sufficient detail
Clearly states
Discussion of relevance of clinical situation/ topic to student both personally & professionally:
Yes
No
Discusses relevance of clinical situation/ topic to student personally
Discusses of relevance of clinical situation/ topic to student professionally
Identification Discussion and Analysis of the Issues
Identification discussion and analysis of 2 issues of the concept within the context of the clinical situation that was presented:
Integration of ideas and theory from different scholarly references in the discussion and analysis of the issue:
Instructor’s notes/ course note provided by any instructors in class /on line are excluded]There is an expectation that the literature that is included will be linked back and discussed within the context of the issue as it is presented in the situation
Minimum of 6 scholarly references are included: articles and chapters from published books
Issue 1:
Issue 1:
Exceptional
Exceptional
Excellent
Excellent
Good
Good
Satisfactory
Satisfactory
Minimal
Minimal
Absence
Absence
Issue 2:
Issue 2:
Exceptional
Exceptional
Excellent
Excellent
Good
Good
Satisfactory
Satisfactory
Minimal
Minimal
Absence
Absence
Discussion/ analysis of how future practice may be influenced:
Yes
No
Identifies and discusses how analysis of the issues and theory may influence
future practice
Provides sufficiently details
Clearly states
Conclusion/ Summary:
Yes
No
Captures the essence of paper
Overview of content presented and discussed in paper:
Grasp of subject matter:
Comprehensive grasp
Good grasp
Satisfactory grasp
Minimal treatment of the subject matter
Superficial treatment of the subject matter
Demonstration of ability to organize and present ideas logically and fluently:
Superior
Excellent
Good
Satisfactory
Minimal
Absence of
Demonstration of originality creativity and critical thinking
Exceptional
Good
Satisfactory
Minimal
Absence of
Originality
Creativity
Critical thinking
Format of paper:
Yes
No
Title page:
Name/ student number course number University teacher’s name date due
Length: 10-12 pages
Use of headings
APA format:
Correct
Essentially correct
Occasional minor errors
Multiple errors
Does not utilize guidelines correctly
Font 12
Direct quotes
Indirect quotes
References
Pagination
GRADE __
Expected method of submission:
The paper can be submitted anytime up to the last day of class during week 12 of the course. The paper is to be submitted to your instructor. Details of how the paper is to be submitted will be posted by your instructor.
Student self-feedback/ grading tool for application paper:
After you have written your paper we recommend that you carry out a self-evaluation/ self grading of your paper using the tool provided below. This will assist you in identifying the strengths of your paper and areas in your paper that need additional consideration (attention/ work) before you submit it.
All sections that have a yes; somewhat and no box. If you select somewhat or no this states that your paper could benefit with further attention. After you have been successful in achieving a YES with each row in each section I suggest that you are ready to submit your paper for review and grading by your instructor.
Yes
Somewhat
No
Title page
I have included the following:
Title of paper
My name/student number
Name of university
Name of course and section
Date and year of submit
Introduction
Description of the clinical situation
* With the following concepts: horizontal violence life span issues of the nurse and self care- I may have used myself as the client- please note in all other topics (concepts) the clinical situation needs to be that of a client.
* The word I can be used throughout my paper.
The identification of the topic/ clinical situation to me both personally/professionally
Identification discussion and analysis of the 2 issues
Issue #1:
Issue #2:
Overall in 1 & 2:
Discussion and analysis of how future practice may be influenced by my review of the concept situation and theory
Conclusion or summary
Reference page
Complete the following throughout the paper
Highlight all direct quotes in your paper pink and highlight all indirect quotes in your paper yellow. This allows me the opportunity to see what theory I have included in the paper.