Introduction
The practice of Nursing has continuously progressed through time and the care that nurses deliver must be adapted to these changes. In this age, new technologies are used everywhere to bring efficiency in our work. Locsin’s theory on Technological Competency as Caring in Nursing frames the relationship between nursing care and the use of technology. Nursing according to him is not merely a technical practice but must be deeply rooted in human caring while adapting to advancements.
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Locsin’s theory on TCCN is focused on the proficient practice of nurses using technologies to know persons more fully as caring, while affirming that being technologically competent is being caring. He further deliberates the importance of understanding advanced instruments and devices as these will provide opportunities for the nurse to know the patient fully as a person. The person being nursed is thought to be unique and necessitates creative and imaginative ways of being cared for. Today’s technologies have created innovative ways to care for people. This reconciles the idea of competent use of technology with the idea of caring in nursing. He sees technology as an extension of caring that enables a greater sense of knowing. The idea of knowing is a central idea throughout Locsin’s work. Knowing is a mutual process between the nurse and those being nursed. They must come together and know each other in order to have mutual knowing and acceptance. From the perspective of the TCCN, the nurse appreciates and knows persons more fully as active participants in their care rather than as passive recipients of care, and thereby advances the preservation of humanness.
His theory is essential to modeling a practice of nursing from the perspective of caring. It is a practical illumination of excellent nursing in a technological world.
Historical Background
Concern has been established over the development of viewing nursing as an act of accomplishing tasks rather than an intelligent, thoughtful profession (Locsin, 2001). Locsin’s theory on technological competency as an expression of caring is grounded in the Nursing as Caring theory of Boykin and Schoenhofer. Nursing as Caring is a general nursing theory stating the primary concern of nursing is caring and it should be uniquely and knowingly expressed in nursing (Boykin & Schoenhofer, 1990). In this theory, the nurse is concerned with enhancing personhood and the ‘caring between’ of the nurse and nursed (Locsin & Purnell, 2007). Essentially, the nurse’s competent ability to use technology is an expression of caring in nursing (Locsin, 2001). The goal of Locsin’s theory development then became to examine the challenges that nursing faces within the technological environment.
The assumptions of the theory are:
Persons are caring by virtue of their humanness.
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Each person throughout his or her life grows in the capacity to express caring. The assumption that all persons are caring does not require that each act of a person be caring, but it does require the acceptance that “fundamentally, potentially, and actually, each person is caring”. However, each person’s expression is different from how they perceive it.
Persons are whole or complete in the moment.
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This involves treating a patient as a “whole” person instead of focusing on an illness or diagnosis. From the perspective of Nursing as Caring, to encounter a person as less than whole fails to truly encounter the person.
Knowing persons is a process of nursing that allows for continuous appreciation of persons moment to moment.
Technology is used to know wholeness of persons moment to moment (Locsin, 2004).
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Technologies of health and nursing are aspects of care that enable nurses to know human
beings more fully as persons who participate in their care, rather than simply recipients of
our care.
Nursing is a discipline and a professional practice
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The discipline of nursing attends to the discovery, creation, development, and refinement of knowledge needed for the practice of nursing. The profession of nursing attends to the application of that knowledge in response to human needs.
Technology brings the patient closer to the nurse. On the contrary, it can also increase the gap between the nurse and nursed. In this way, nurses can make use of advancements in technology by creating an environment that makes patient care more efficient and promote caring in our practice.
Significance of the Theory
Now that we are in the Age of Experience, which is the time of freedom and technological advancement. The process of caring has adapted to the changes towards modernization.
In the theory of Technological Competency as Caring in Nursing (Rozzano C. Locsin, 2005) explained that the purposes of the theory are for nurses to use technological competence to know a person and provide individualized care. And to recognize the importance of knowing the wholeness of the person as the purpose of nursing and to engage in the care process.
The preservation of humanness in the advanced healthcare setting is the application of the nurses’ ability to utilize scientific knowledge to know and care for the patient. Technological competence is significant to deliver efficient and satisfactory care to patients.