Janice A. Thibodeau (1983), described nursing as a practice-oriented profession. Nursing is a “doing” profession and the development of a theoretical basis for nursing practice is necessary. Since nursing has a wide range of parameters, the method must be structured according to the concepts of use. The ability to understand concepts and apply them in nursing is improved by using well-defined models in practice. To understand models it is essential to understand the concept of paradigm, since the development of a model is based on a certain paradigm (Thibodeau). The purpose of this speech is to define and discuss the relationship between paradigm, model and theory. Additionally, the importance of nursing theory in practice will be discussed. Paradigm is described as the general rules of thumb of a discipline. It offers information regarding the boundaries, essence and purpose of the discipline. A paradigm must be at least implicitly recognized by members of the profession. Thus, every profession has a prevailing paradigm. A nursing paradigm must express the nature, goals, and process of nursing care. There are four vital components of a nursing paradigm, which are: people, environment, health and nursing. All four must be incorporated into a paradigm to be considered a nursing paradigm (Thibodeau, 1983). The metaparadigm concepts are linked to the four propositions written by Donaldson and Crowley as cited in Fawcett and Malinski (1996), the first proposition is person and health, makes the nursing discipline focus on the principles and laws that govern life - process, well-being and optimal functioning of man. The second proposition emphasizes the interaction between people and the environment...... middle of paper ......e.g. Janice Morse (1992) argues that theories are just tools that facilitate the organization of data and the understanding of reality. He also said that theories are not fixed and can be revised and reconstructed and new ones can be developed. Therefore, it needs to be looked into; it must be pursued and tested while remembering that it is just an idea (Morse). In Rolfe's (1993) article, he stated that theory does not determine practice; rather it is generated by practice. Schon, as cited in Rolfe (1993), argues that a professional develops situational experiences and continually expands and modifies them to meet new situations. In conclusion, nursing practice is the combination of theory and practice that contains a continuous process of hypothesis and experimentation with new experiences. ideas and modify practice based on the results (Rolfe, 1993).