APPLICATION OF KING'S THEORY
The nursing process
The nursing process is the underlying scheme
that provides order and direction to nursing
care' (Stanton et al. 1980). According to these
authors the nursing process consists of five
phases: assessment, nursing diagnosis, planning,
implementation and evaluation. Assessment
involves a systematic and orderly collection of
subjective and objective data. Once the data
have been analysed, nursing diagnoses are made.
They can be defined as summary statements that
describe the patient's actual or potential health
problems or deficits. The next phase in the nursing
process is planning. In this phase goals and
objectives are set; and resources, supports and
nursing interventions are identified. Implementation
follows with the designed plan being put
into action. The final phase is evaluation. It
involves the comparison of expyected goals stated
in the plan to the actual or observed outcomes.
The outlined nursing process will serve as the
framework for the application of King's theory.
The setting is the outpatient diabetic education
unit, and the patient is David, a 35-year-old
newly diagnosed insulin-dependent diabetic.