Virginia Henderson Nursing Theory Essay

Virginia Henderson is famous for her definition of nursing, “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 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" (Blais, 2012). Her philosophy supports that caring is the foundation, the center of all patient healing.

The purpose of this paper will be to explain the components of Dorothea Orem’s self-care deficit theory, the current significance of the theory, and the application of this particular nursing theory. A nursing theory is an explanation of a division of nursing that “describes, explains, predicts, or prescribes” that particular division. (Perry, Potter, Stockert, & Hall, 2013, p. 41). Orem developed her personal theory, the self-care deficit theory, to assess a patient’s ability to perform vital daily tasks and how it affected the patient’s. (Hartweg & Pickens, 2016). This theory is a grand theory, which means it can be used in almost all areas of nursing. There are five components or methods that compose this theory that nurses will practice when working with a patient who needs to reach the self-care deficit. (Edney, Jaime, & Young, 2016). It is used today and has been included in several studies that have proven it to be effective in shortening hospital visits when used on critically ill patients. (Hohdorf, 2010). This particular theory has helped advance nursing practice since Orem’s first publication.

“If a patient is cold, if a patient is feverish, if a patient is faint, if he is sick after taking food, if he has a bed-sore, it is generally the fault of not of the disease, but of the nursing. I use the word nursing for want of a better” (Nightingale, 1860, p. 8). While Nightingale stressed the impact of one’s environment to promote healing, Virginia Henderson aimed to establish on the fundamental needs as a knowledge base to guide Professional nursing practice. Henderson emphasized on fourteen components required for effective nursing care which includes: breathing normally, eating and drinking adequately, elimination of body wastes, movement and posturing, sleep and rest, select suitable clothes-dress and undress, maintaining body temperature, keeping body clean and well groomed, avoiding dangers in the environment, communication, worship according to one’s faith, work accomplishments, play or participate in various forms of recreation, and learn, discover, or satisfy the curiosity (Fernandes et al., 2015). Her division of the fourteen components acknowledged patient needs with a holistic approach that is applied through the nursing process in a clinical setting.

Using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, I will explain how the most basic human needs characterized me as a person and eventually choosing nursing as my profession. My environmental circumstances also played a big role in deciding my educational goal. Health ideas and knowledge with in society and in the nursing community played a big role in my decision for becoming a nurse. Finally, developing a personal philosophy of nursing is crucial to guiding me in my daily decisions as I practice nursing.

Virginia Henderson’s contribution to the nursing profession has been very influential. One of her contributions is her well known definition of nursing which request the nurse to be an expert independent practitioner equipped with the right knowledge in basic nursing care to achieve the goals of proper patient care (McCrae, 2012). Her definition along with the fourteen basic needs brought huge changes in nursing practice. The fourteen fundamental needs gives support and assistance to provide proper nursing care. In addition, Henderson also understood the importance of using the nursing process, she stated as part of the nursing process, it was vital for the nurse to collect, analyze and develop an optimal plan of care to ensure the best quality of care and patient outcomes (McCrae, 2012). Henderson defined nursing as a concept. Henderson regarded person, health, environment and nursing as follows, Person: The patient is a person who needs support attaining independence and well-being or sometimes peaceful passing. The body and mind are one entity, not to be separated in care. Patient and

The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast nursing theorists from the four categories which are identified by Meleis as: Needs, Interaction, Outcome and Caring. (Meleis, 2012, Chapter 9) I have chosen Faye Abdellah, Imogene King, Myra Levine and Jean Watson as the grand theorists that I would like to explore for this study in contrast and comparison. This decision was made, in part, due to the fact that all of these theorists were born and educated in the twentieth century and I felt that their theories might be more applicable to my nursing practice. The information contained in the tables was obtained from several sources in an

Theory development stems from personal experiences, intuition, and knowledge of the theorist (Burns et al., 2013). When a scholar develops a theory, it has to be tested through research. The findings of the study are then presented to experts in the area of academics and the field of practice (Burns et al., 2013). The presentation of the findings allows experts to provide constructive criticism, highlight the pros and cons of the theory, and acknowledge whether or not the theory can be accepted as a guide to practice. This theory evaluation paper will give the reader a theory description, theory analysis, and an assessment of Dorothea Orem’s self-care deficit theory of nursing (Alligood et al., 2010).

They needed a shift from a “body-system disease framework to a more holistic model that articulated both the art and science of contemporary critical care nursing practice” (Curley, 2007b, p. 255). The model is seen as rooted in the practice of nursing as explained by Virginia Henderson, known for her Nursing Need Theory (Curley, 2007a).

Imogene King was born in 1921in Iowa. Growing up, she dreamed of being a teacher but began nursing school to escape her small town life. She graduated with a diploma in nursing in 1945, then three years later earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing Education and worked as medical-surgical instructor and an assistant director at St. John’s School of Nursing until 1958, fulfilling her lifelong dream of being a teacher wither nursing career. She went on to earn a Master of Science in Nursing in 1957 and a doctorate in education in 1961 (Imogene King, 2011). King then became an associate professor at Loyola University in Chicago and formed a master’s degree program that was based on her nursing concepts, which later became the framework for her theory.

This assignment will investigate a needs orientated approach to care, critically discussing the nursing process. It aims to show an understanding of what a nursing model and the nursing process is, looking in detail at the relationship between this nursing process and the Roper, Logan and Tierney (RLT) model of nursing. This essay will explore how the nursing model and process is implemented in practice, considering how the RLT model assists nurses to adapt a problem-solving technique when developing care plans for individuals. Strengths and limitations of the RLT model and the nursing process, in relation to developing care plans, will be critiqued along with the effectiveness of

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The two theories that have helped to form my personal perspective on nursing are Erickson; and Rogers. Helen Erickson’s model is based on caring for an individual patient based on their own unique needs and perspective (Nursing Theories and Models, 2017). Erickson’s model took concepts from several other theorists such as Maslow, Padget, Seyle, and Lazarus and combined them to create a nursing model that takes care of each individual patient based on their needs ( Reed, 2017). This theory helps me to be more cognizant of the individual needs of my patient, not all patients regardless of disease process are the same. Each patient may have different underlying factors or circumstances that affect their health and current situation. Rogers’ theory is broader, viewing nursing as both an art and science, promoting health and wellbeing to patients regardless of where they are (Nursing Theories and Models, 2017). The science of nursing involves the knowledge and research of nursing, and the art is applying that science for the betterment of the patient. This theory views an individual as part

Those desires also must be satisfied to avoid “dire consequences.”4 Desires and aspirations for social support, to stay in their own homes, to be understood, to be financially stable, and to return to former function are entailed in the construct of holistic comfort that embodies physical, psychospiritual, social, and environmental needs.2 Because the theory is based on the needs of patients, it is a representation of what patients hope to receive from nurses who are assigned to their care. Two facets of human needs have been identified and described as reflexive. First, needs provide a motivational drive

Imogene King was not only involved in nursing for 60 years, but she was a leader in nursing right from her start in the diploma program at St. John’s Hospital School of Nursing, St. Louis, Missouri. King saw nursing as a challenge. She credits her Jesuit education, her perception of personal

Henderson 14 basic needs specifies general focus for patient care. The focal role of the nurse is to help patients if they were incapable of performing these 14 basic needs independently (Chitty, 2005). Henderson also stressed the significance of nurses in fostering health, inhibition, and management of diseases. In the same manner, according to Orem, nursing focuses on persons with disabilities to sustain continuous provision of health care. Nursing is needed when patients are unable to function fully to support life, maintain health, and recover from injury or diseases (George, 2011).