virginia henderson
Virginia Henderson
INTRODUCTION
Virginia Henderson in the development of her personal concept of what nursing is looked at different schools of thought on the needs of human beings for functioning and considered all of the aspects that these schools of thought when she finally came to her conclusion of what nursing is. One can see aspects of physical, psychological and social needs in her work which gave a more holistic view of the patient and the practice of nursing in relation to patients. It is because of her revolutionary take on the profession she was heralded as a modern Florence Nightingale.
HENDERSON’S THEORY: AN ANALYSIS
She is described as one of the needs theorists of nursing. Her theory was developed in relation the question what does a nurse do? Her perspective emphasizes the nurse’s role in complementing and supplementing individual needs to maintain and achieve independence. Nursing was therefore defined as
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.
One of the driving forces for the development of Henderson’s model was the recognition of nursing as a profession could only be brought about by defining a scientific body of knowledge a body of knowledge which would be unique to nursing. In doing this her efforts formulated a model that was patient centered and promoted the independence of nursing practice
From Henderson’s work one can gather that health was viewed in the context of independent functioning. Health would therefore be determined along a continuum of functioning. The nurse’s role would then be to help the patient carry out his/her function. The need for nursing intervention would increase as the ability
INTRODUCTION
Virginia Henderson in the development of her personal concept of what nursing is looked at different schools of thought on the needs of human beings for functioning and considered all of the aspects that these schools of thought when she finally came to her conclusion of what nursing is. One can see aspects of physical, psychological and social needs in her work which gave a more holistic view of the patient and the practice of nursing in relation to patients. It is because of her revolutionary take on the profession she was heralded as a modern Florence Nightingale.
HENDERSON’S THEORY: AN ANALYSIS
She is described as one of the needs theorists of nursing. Her theory was developed in relation the question what does a nurse do? Her perspective emphasizes the nurse’s role in complementing and supplementing individual needs to maintain and achieve independence. Nursing was therefore defined as
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.
One of the driving forces for the development of Henderson’s model was the recognition of nursing as a profession could only be brought about by defining a scientific body of knowledge a body of knowledge which would be unique to nursing. In doing this her efforts formulated a model that was patient centered and promoted the independence of nursing practice
From Henderson’s work one can gather that health was viewed in the context of independent functioning. Health would therefore be determined along a continuum of functioning. The nurse’s role would then be to help the patient carry out his/her function. The need for nursing intervention would increase as the ability
Bibliography: EBSCOhost: Virginia Henderson 's principles and practice of nursing applied to organ do.... (n.d.). EBSCO Publishing Service Selection Page. Retrieved April 13, 2013, from http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=530bcd93-fcaf-4014-8c4a-1927b65f4279%40sessionmgr104&vid=1&hid=109&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=c8h&AN=2010964102 Kim, H. S. (2006). Nursing theories conceptual & philosophical foundations (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Springer Pub. Co. Risjord, M. W. (2010). Nursing knowledge: science, practice, and philosophy. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell Pub.. Tomey, A. (1994). Nursing theorists and their work (3rd ed.). St. Louis: Mosby. Virginia Henderson 's Nursing Theory. (n.d.). nursing research articles, theories, reviews, education, administration, psychiatric nursing, MCQs. Retrieved April 13, 2013, from http://currentnursing.com/nursing_theory/Henderson.html