Uses of Concepts Paper

The purpose of this Assignment is to explore the various meanings behind one concept in thefield of nursing. It is important to understand that while professionals from various fields will use the same word, they often carry very different meanings. Likewise, it is important for every health professional to be able to explain the meaning/use/interpretation of a term to patients in a way that they can understand. To complete this Assignment, you will explore the various definitions of a single word and compile a detailed description of theses definitions and interpretations of that word.

To begin, select a word (concept) familiar to you in health care that has multiple interpretations and uses, e.g., heart. The heart is an organ, a muscle, a control center, a source of emotion, etc. Examples to choose from include, but are not limited to:

fail error death innovation quality

team soul spirit research evidence

loneliness hardiness stress grief care

rehabilitation trauma

Feel free to be creative in your choice of terms. You will provide a description of uses,

definitions, and varied interpretations of the term. You will use multiple sources to find your

definitions (not dictionary.com or Wikipedia.com).

Directions:

 Identify the concept and purpose for studying the concept and relevance to nursing

practice.

 Conduct a preliminary literature review to identify multiple uses of the concept

 Describe the various usages of the term.

 Determine the critical attributes of the concept.

 Create a theoretical and operational definition of the concept.

Read the following two resources located in the Kaplan University Writing Center:

 Using facts, examples, and definitions

 Paragraph development

Pay particular attention to the section on rhetorical modes for developing paragraphs because this is where you will learn how to describe and explain a concept to patients in effective an accurate ways.

To complete this Assignment, you will write a fully developed paragraph on each definition/use/interpretation of the term you have chosen. For those definitions or uses that pertain to the nursing profession, you will explain the concept in such a way that includes examples, analogies, and self-explanatory descriptions. On average you will find four to eight uses for each term.