Chapter 5: CASE STUDY Mary Jane Collins, RN, BSN, is a staff nurse for a home health agency.

Chapter 5: CASE STUDY

Mary Jane Collins, RN, BSN, is a staff nurse for a home health agency. Many of Mary Jane's clients are between the ages of 62 and 80 years, with various types of chronic, debilitating conditions. However, most of these clients are willing to participate in their own care and are eager to regain or maintain some level of independence. In caring for these clients, Mary Jane bases her nursing practice on Imogene King's theory of goal attainment. Mary Jane believes this theory is very effective in guiding her to help clients establish realistic goals for attaining improved functioning and independence. One day in the home health agency office, Mary Jane was telling a group of other RNs how useful King's theory was to her nursing practice. One of the other RNs replied, "You mean you really use that theory stuff? In my nursing school, we learned about more important stuff like IV therapy and how to handle codes."

2. How can Mary Jane explain that to practice professional nursing, studying nursing theory is as important as, if not more important than, learning technical skills?