Nursing Theory Paper

Nursing theories are views and beliefs developed by nurses. They are models of how nursing care should be practiced. There are many nurses of the past who have created a base of information for us to practice by. There are many women who influenced early nursing. Most of these have set the basis for our understanding of nursing. “The nursing theory process comprises of six elements; Assessment, Nursing Diagnose, Outcome, Planning, Implementation and Evaluation” (George, 2011). All these steps are done with each patient we have. If we don’t follow them we aren’t doing our job properly.

Virginia Henderson was a nursing theorist attended Columbia University School of Nursing. She created fourteen of basic human needs of nursing.

With these concepts the patient is able to heal. The environment is essential just like Nightingale states. She believed a person can’t heal alone. They need help in many facets to get better. Her ideas focused around the nurse assisting the patient so they can become independent and function in their activities of daily living at home. This correlates to community nursing. She also believes that a nurse is there to help the patient when someone is incapacitated and not able to care for themselves. She emphasized the” importance of increasing the patient’s independence so that progress after hospitalization would not be delayed” (Henderson, 1991).

Concept of person ….Virginia Henderson believed the mind and body were not separable, and the family unit was a part of the rehabilitation of the patient. As the person heals, they should be able to take care of themselves unaided. The more able a person is able to do ADLs and care for themselves they are more able to heal. Some people are lazy and don’t care about their health and don’t keep up with the care after they leave the hospital. “Henderson views health as the quality of life and is

We see patients in the ER all the time that don’t have the care that they should. We see a lot return after discharge that has gotten worse. There are various reasons and levels of why people don’t do for themselves. A good example is a diabetic in DKA. They are sent to the ICU and when they are at the point that they are able to go home, they do. The person is an individual with whom the nurse is interacting (Potter &Perry, 2005). Henderson introduces the idea of the mind and body of a person work as a single unit. She stated that person is an individual who requires assistance in achieving health and independence or a special peaceful death (Tourville & Ingalls, 2003). The fourteen components of nursing care consist of every individual’s basic needs. A person to function to the fullest, he must be able to maintain emotional and physiological balance. Henderson considered patient and family as a single unit (Parker, 2001). In rehab centre family will be involved in patients care. Programs like caregiver training will empower the family members to care for the patient post discharge. Involving family members in patient care will reduce emotional and psychological distress experienced by patient as family is the main support system of the