Every nurse has their own idea of what nursing means to them; they also have their own idea of what the metaparadigm of nursing is. The metaparadigm of nursing consists of defining the person, environment, health, and nursing or nurse. Even though everyone has their own thoughts and definitions on what the metaparadigm of nursing is, many of them overlap and have similarities. The first idea to consider when defining the metaparadigm of nursing is the person. The person, or the patient, is the one seeking help, and it is how he or she views him/herself in the world. According to Comley (1994), Dorothea Orem describes the person as a unit operating with him/herself and their environment, and the person has the ability to learn and be …show more content…
Health is how the person perceives their overall physical and emotional well-being. The person and their environment make up their health. According to Comley (1994), Orem defines health as “Structurally and functionally sound or whole,” and “Physical, psychological, interpersonal and social aspects of health are inseparable” (p. 758). So again, the two definitions of health are similar to one another. Both mention that the foundation of health involves both physical and mental health, and that their environment plays a part in defining their health. Yet again let us use John Doe. You have now been given information on how he sees himself and about his environment. Here he tells you about his health. He says that overall he feels healthy: he is happy with his wife and social life, content with his job, but he has had a cough lately. Now that you know about his health and environment, you can make an inference that him working in the mine and smoking occasionally may be beginning to affect his health. The only point that is not made in both of the definitions is that health is defined by the person. This is something that should not be missed. You need to know how the person views his/her health just as much as how you as the nurse perceives or defines the person’s