virginia avenal henderson - wordpress.com · henderson: definition of nursing t he unique function...

VIRGINIA AVENAL HENDERSON

Alejandro Nonog, Jr., MSN, RN

Definition of Nursing - 1955

HENDERSON: Definition of Nursing

Birth date: November 30, 1897

Birth place: Kansas City, Missouri

Education:

Diploma Program - Army School of Nursing

BSN - Teachers College, Columbia University – 1932

MAN – Teachers College, Columbia University – 1934

Faculty :

Teachers College (1934-1948)

Yale University (1948-1996)

Publications:

Principles & Practice of Nursing

Basic Principles of Nursing

Death: March 9, 1996 at age 98

Theorist


A definition of nursing will help set boundaries for nursing knowledge.

Phenomenon

A definition of nursing functions to protect the safety of the public.

Idea


The unique function of the nurse is to assist the individual,

sick or well, in the performance of those activities contributing to health, or its recovery, or to a peaceful death that he would perform unaided if he had the necessary strength, will or knowledge and to do this in such a way as to help him gain independence as rapidly as possible (Henderson, 1966).

Nursing, defined.


As a professional nurse, you are tasked to take care of an individual who has just undergone total hip replacement and is now under recovery in the surgical ward.

What are your nursing actions to provide utmost care to your patient?

Situation:


Assistance with 14 daily activities or needs.

Focus of Nursing

Goal of Nursing

Completeness or wholeness and independence of patient to perform daily activities.


1. Breathe normally

2. Eat and drink adequately

3. Eliminate body wastes

4. Move and maintain desirable postures

5. Sleep and rest

6. Select suitable clothing – dress and undress

7. Maintain normal body temperature by adjusting clothing and modifying the environment

14 Components of Nursing


8. Keep the body clean and well groomed and protect the integument

9. Avoid dangers in the environment and avoid injuring others

10. Communicate with others in expressing emotions, needs, fears or opinions

11. Worship according to one’s faith

12. Work in such a way that there is sense of accomplishment

13. Play or participate in various forms of recreation

14. Learn, discover or satisfy the curiosity that leads to normal development and health using available health facilities

14 Components of Nursing


Patient’s lack of knowledge, strength or will to carry out 14 activities.

Nursing Problem

Goal of Nursing

Complementing and supplementing knowledge, will and strength of patient to perform 14 daily activities and to carry out his medical prescriptions.


I. Substitute for the patient

II. Helper to the patient

III. Partner with the patient

Three Levels of Nurse – Patient Relationship


PERSON

Have basic needs that are component of health.

Requiring assistance to achieve health and independence or a peaceful death.

Mind and body are inseparable and interrelated.

Considers the biological, psychological, sociological, and spiritual components.

The theory presents the patient as a sum of parts with biopsychosocial needs, and the patient is neither client nor consumer.

The Metaparadigms


ENVIRONMENT

Settings in which an individual learns unique pattern for living.

All external conditions and influences that affect life and development.

Individuals in relation to families

Minimally discusses the impact of the community on the individual and family.

The Metaparadigms


ENVIRONMENT

Supports tasks of private and public agencies Society wants and expects nurses to act for individuals who are unable to function independently. In return she expects society to contribute to nursing education.

Basic nursing care involves providing conditions under which the patient can perform the 14 activities unaided

The Metaparadigms


HEALTH

Definition based on individual’s ability to function independently as outlined in the 14 components.

Nurses need to stress promotion of health and prevention and cure of disease.

Good health is a challenge. Affected by age, cultural background, physical, and intellectual capacities, and emotional balance Is the individual’s ability to meet these needs independently?

The Metaparadigms


NURSING

Temporarily assisting an individual who lacks the necessary strength, will and knowledge to satisfy 1 or more of 14 basic needs.

Assists and supports the individual in life activities and the attainment of independence.

Nurse serves to make patient “complete” “whole", or "independent.“

The nurse is expected to carry out physician’s therapeutic plan Individualized care is the result of the nurse’s creativity in planning for care.

The Metaparadigms


NURSING

Use nursing research

Categorized Nursing : nursing care

Non nursing: ordering supplies, cleanliness and serving food.

In the Nature of Nursing “ that the nurse is and should be legally, an independent practitioner and able to make independent judgments as long as s/he is not diagnosing, prescribing treatment for disease, or making a prognosis, for these are the physicians function.”

The Metaparadigms


NURSING PRACTICE

Assist nurses to describe, explain, and predict everyday experiences.

Serve to guide assessment, interventions, and evaluation of nursing care.

Provide a rationale for collecting reliable and valid data about the health status of clients, which are essential for effective decision making and implementation.

Help to describe criteria to measure the quality of nursing care.

Theory Application


NURSING PRACTICE

Help build a common nursing terminology to use in communicating with other health professionals.

Ideas are developed and words are defined.

Enhance autonomy (independence and self-governance) of nursing through defining its own independent functions.

Theory Application


NURSING EDUCATION

Provide a general focus for curriculum design

Guide curricular decision making.

Theory Application


NURSING RESEARCH

Offer a framework for generating knowledge and new ideas.

Assist in discovering knowledge gaps in the specific field of study.

Offer a systematic approach to identify questions for study; select variables, interpret findings, and validate nursing interventions.

Approaches to developing nursing theory

Theory Application


NURSING RESEARCH

Borrowing conceptual frameworks from other disciplines.

Inductively looking at nursing practice to discover theories/concepts to explain phenomena.

Deductively looking for the compatibility of a general nursing theory with nursing practice.

Questions from practicing Nurse about using Nursing theory

Theory Application


Virginia Henderson supported empathetic understanding and stated that:

“The nurse must get inside the skin of each of her patients in order to know what he/he need.”

On Empathy

virginia avenal henderson - wordpress.com · henderson: definition of nursing t he unique function...

Documents