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ABSTRACT
The Circle of Caring Model serves as a guide that superimposes nursing and medical practice models. This transformative template was formulated for advanced practice nursing in all health care settings, including neonatal care. This article proposes an extension of this model specific to neonatal transport. It also shows how the Circle of Caring Model for Neonatal Transport functions within the framework of a hypothetical patient case.
The Circle of Caring Model developed by Joan Engebretson in 1997 is a pictorial description of an original approach to advanced practice nursing (Figure 1). The model presents a synthesized approach that incorporates the evolution of the nursing process with the traditional medical model.1 This multiparadigmatic conceptualization bridges the gap between biomedical nursing practice and theories based in holistic nursing.2
The Circle of Caring Model can be used for problem solving in both acute and primary care settings.2 It was originally adapted from a theory-of-nursing-care model.3 The main purpose of Engebretson's model is to concretely show how the nurse's voice and role can be incorporated into today's rapidly changing health care system. The main objective of the model is to yield positive outcomes for patients, families, and the health care community.1 The following discussion describes a modified Circle of Caring Model that is specific to neonatal transport (Figure 2). This model, which evolved from Engebretson's model, has been created for nurses who want to incorporate nursing theory into both practice and research, in preparation for meeting the demands of twentyfirst century health care.
Similar to Engebretson's model, the Circle of Caring Model for Neonatal Transport is spherical in nature, and many of the key concepts and the structure remain constant between the two models. Overall, the goals for developing the neonatal transport model were threefold: (1) to emphasize scholarly practice by integrating delivery models and interventions, (2) to enable measurement and evaluation of health care outcomes, and (3) to measure clinical excellence based on adherence to a model grounded in nursing theory.2 The models have identical key elements-assessment and assessment process, planning, outcomes, collaboration, and evaluation-that are consistent in both models because they are key components of the nursing process. The American Nurses Association recognizes that the nursing process is an essential core in all areas of...