Faye Glenn Abdellah's Theory Twenty-One Nursing Problems

Faye Glenn Abdellah's Theory

Twenty-One Nursing Problems

This page was last updated on January 4, 2011

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INTRODUCTION Faye Glenn Abdellah, pioneer nursing researcher, helped transform nursing theory, nursing care and nursing education Birth:1919 Dr Abdellah worked as Deputy Surgeon General in US Also as Chief Nurse Officer for the US Public Health Service , Department of Health and human services, Washington, D.C. She was a leader in nursing research She has over one hundred publications related to nursing care, education for advanced practice in nursing and nursing research. In 1960, influenced by the desire to promote client-centred comprehensive nursing care, Abdellah described nursing as a service to individuals, to families, and, therefore to, to society. According to her, nursing is based on an art and science that mould the attitudes, intellectual competencies, and technical skills of the individual nurse into the desire and ability to help people , sick or well, cope with their health needs. As per Abdellah, nursing as a comprehensive service includes: Recognizing the nursing problems of the patient Deciding the appropriate course of action to take in terms of relevant nursing principles Providing continuous care of the individuals total needs Providing continuous care to relieve pain and discomfort and provide immediate security for the individual Adjusting the total nursing care plan to meet the patient’s individual needs Helping the individual to become more self directing in attaining or maintaining a healthy state of mind & body Instructing nursing personnel and family to help the individual do for himself that which he can within his limitations Helping the individual to adjust to his limitations and emotional problems Working with allied health professions in planning for optimum health on local, state, national and international levels Carrying out continuous evaluation and research to improve nursing techniques and to develop new techniques to meet the health needs of people (In 1973, the item 3, - “providing continuous care of the individual’s total health needs” was eliminated.) PHILOSOPHICAL UNDERPINNINGS OF THE THEORY Abdellah’s patient-centred approach to nursing was developed inductively from her practice and is considered a human needs theory. The theory was created to assist with nursing education and is most applicable to the education of nurses. Although it was intended to guide care of those in the hospital, it also has relevance for nursing care in community settings. MAJOR ASSUMPTIONS, CONCEPTS & RELATIONSHIPS The language of Abdellah’s framework is readable and clear. She uses the term ‘she’ for nurses, ‘he’ for doctors and patients, and refers to the object of nursing as ‘patient’ rather than client or consumer. She referred to Nursing diagnosis during a time when nurses were taught that diagnosis was not a nurses’ prerogative. Assumptions were related to change and anticipated changes that affect nursing; the need to appreciate the interconnectedness of social enterprises and social problems; the impact of problems such as poverty, racism, pollution, education, and so forth on health care delivery; changing nursing education continuing education for professional nurses development of nursing leaders from under reserved groups Abdellah and colleagues developed a list of 21 nursing problems.They also identified 10 steps to identify the client’s problems. 11 nursing skills to be used in developing a treatment typology 10 steps to identify the client’s problems Learn to know the patient Sort out relevant and significant data Make generalizations about available data in relation to similar nursing problems presented by other patients Identify the therapeutic plan Test generalizations with the patient and make additional generalizations Validate the patient’s conclusions about his nursing problems Continue to observe and evaluate the patient over a period of time to identify any attitudes and clues affecting his behavior Explore the patient’s and family’s reaction to the therapeutic plan and involve them in the plan Identify how the nurses feels about the patient’s nursing problems Discuss and develop a comprehensive nursing care plan 11 nursing skills Observation of health status Skills of communication Application of knowledge Teaching of patients and families Planning and organization of work Use of resource materials Use of personnel resources Problem-solving Direction of work of others Therapeutic use of the self Nursing procedure The twenty-one Nursing Problems Three major categories Physical, sociological, and emotional needs of clients Types of interpersonal relationships between the nurse and patient Common elements of client care 21 NURSING PROBLEMS BASIC TO ALL PATIENTS To maintain good hygiene and physical comfort To promote optimal activity: exercise, rest and sleep To promote safety through the prevention of accidents, injury, or other trauma and through the prevention of the spread of infection To maintain good body mechanics and prevent and correct deformity SUSTENAL CARE NEEDS To facilitate the maintenance of a supply of oxygen to all body cells To facilitate the maintenance of nutrition of all body cells To facilitate the maintenance of elimination To facilitate the maintenance of fluid and electrolyte balance To recognize the physiological responses of the body to disease conditions To facilitate the maintenance of regulatory mechanisms and functions To facilitate the maintenance of sensory function. REMEDIAL CARE NEEDS To identify and accept positive and negative expressions, feelings, and reactions To identify and accept the interrelatedness of emotions and organic illness To facilitate the maintenance of effective verbal and non verbal communication To promote the development of productive interpersonal relationships To facilitate progress toward achievement of personal spiritual goals To create and / or maintain a therapeutic environment To facilitate awareness of self as an individual with varying physical , emotional, and developmental needs RESTORATIVE CARE NEEDS To accept the optimum possible goals in the light of limitations, physical and emotional To use community resources as an aid in resolving problems arising from illness To understand the role of social problems as influencing factors in the case of illness ABDELLAH’S THEORY AND NURSING Abdellah’s writings are not specific as to a theoretical statement. But, a theoretical statement can be derived by using her three major concepts of health, nursing problems, and problem solving. NURSING Abdellah’s theory states that nursing is the use of the problem solving approach with key nursing problems related to health needs of people. Acc to her, nursing is based on an art and science that mould the attitudes, intellectual competencies, and technical skills of the individual nurse into the desire and ability to help people, sick or well, cope with their health needs. HEALTH Health is a dynamic pattern of functioning whereby there is a continued interaction with internal and external forces that results in the optimum use of necessary resources that serve to minimize vulnerabilities NURSING PROBLEMS Nursing problem presented by a client is a condition faced by the client or client’s family that the nurse through the performance of professional functions can assist them to meet. The problem can be either an overt or covert nursing problem. An overt nursing problem is an apparent condition faced by the patient or family, which the nurse can assist him or them to meet through the performance of her professional functions. The covert nursing problem is a concealed or hidden condition faced, by the patient or family, which the nurse can assist him or them to meet through the performance of her professional functions PROBLEM SOLVING The problem solving process involves identifying the problem, selecting pertinent data, formulating hypothesis, testing hypothesis through the collection of data, and revising hypothesis where necessary on the basis of conclusions obtained from the data.ss ABDELLAH’S THEORY AND THE FOUR MAJOR CONCEPTS NURSING Nursing is a helping profession. In Abdellah’s model, nursing care is doing something to or for the person or providing information to the person with the goals of meeting needs, increasing or restoring self-help ability, or alleviating impairment. Nursing is broadly grouped into the 21 problem areas to guide care and promote use of nursing judgment. She considers nursing to be comprehensive service that is based on art and science and aims to help people, sick or well, cope with their health needs. PERSON Abdellah describes people as having physical, emotional, and sociological needs. These needs may overt, consisting of largely physical needs, or covert, such as emotional and social needs. Patient is described as the only justification for the existence of nursing. Individuals (and families) are the recipients of nursing Health, or achieving of it, is the purpose of nursing services. HEALTH In Patient–Centered Approaches to Nursing, Abdellah describes health as a state mutually exclusive of illness. Although Abdellah does not give a definition of health, she speaks to “total health needs” and “a healthy state of mind and body” in her description of nursing as a comprehensive service. SOCIETY AND ENVIRONMENT Society is included in “planning for optimum health on local, state, national, and international levels”. However, as she further delineated her ideas, the focus of nursing service is clearly the individual. The environment is the home or community from which patient comes. ABDELLAH’S WORK AND CHARACTERISTICS OF A THEORY Characteristic 1 Abdellah’s theory has interrelated the concepts of health, nursing problems, and problem solving as she attempts to create a different way of viewing nursing phenomenon Nursing is the use of problem solving approach with key nursing problems related to health needs of people. Characteristic 2 Problem solving is an activity that is inherently logical in nature. Characteristic 3 Framework focus on nursing practice and individuals. Characteristic 4 The role of client within the framework. Characteristic 5 The results of testing such hypothesis would contribute to the general body of nursing knowledge Characteristic 6 Abdellah’s problem solving approach can easily be used by practitioners to guide various activities within their practice that deals with clients who have specific needs and specific nursing problems. Characteristic 7 Although consistency with other theories exist, many questions remain unanswered USE OF 21 PROBLEMS IN THE NURSING PROCESS ASSESSMENT PHASE Nursing problems provide guidelines for the collection of data. A principle underlying the problem solving approach is that for each identified problem, pertinent data are collected. The overt or covert nature of the problems necessitates a direct or indirect approach, respectively. NURSING DIAGNOSIS The results of data collection would determine the client’s specific overt or covert problems. These specific problems would be grouped under one or more of the broader nursing problems. This step is consistent with that involved in nursing diagnosis PLANNING PHASE The statements of nursing problems most closely resemble goal statements. Once the problem has been diagnosed, the nursing goals have been established. IMPLEMENTATION Using the goals as the framework, a plan is developed and appropriate nursing interventions are determined. EVALUATION According to the American Nurses’ Association Standards of Nursing Practice, the plan is evaluated in terms of the client’s progress or lack of progress toward the achievement of the stated goals. This would be extremely difficult if not impossible to do for Abdellah’s nursing problem approach since it has been determined that the goals are nursing goals, not the client goals. Thus, the most appropriate evaluation would be the nurse progress or lack of progress toward the achievement of the stated goals AN illustration of the implementation of Abdellah’s framework in Ryan’s care Consider a case of X who experienced severe crushing chest pain ‘shortness of breath, tachycardia and profuse diaphoresis Stage of illness is basic to care Selected Abdellah nursing problem To maintain good hygiene and personal comfort Classification and approach Overt problem of pain; Direct and indirect method Selected Nursing Interventions administer oxygen elevate headrest reposition client administer prescribed analgesic remain with client Criterion measure- Amount of pain CONCEPT OF PROGRESSIVE PATIENT CARE PPC is defined as better patient care through the organization of hospital facilities, services and staff around the changing medical and nursing needs of the patient PPC is tailoring of hospital services to meet patients needs PPC is caring for the right patient in the right bed with the right services at the right time PPC is systematic classification of patients based on their medical needs ELEMENTS OF PPC INTENSIVE CARE Critically and seriously ill patients requiring highly skilled nursing care, close and frequent if not constant, nursing observation are assigned to the ICU. One patient in an ICU requires at least three nurses to observe him in 24 hrs Intermediate care Patients assigned to this unit are both the moderately ill and those for whom the treatment can only be palliative Self care Ambulatory patients who are convalescencing or require diagnosis or therapy may be cared for in this unit Long term care unit This unit will provide services to certain patients now cared for in the general hospital, in nursing homes, or in their own homes and who would benefit by care in a hospital environment to achieve its maximum potential Home care This programme makes it possible to extend needed services to the patient after he leaves the hospital and returns to his home in the community BENEFITS OF PPC PATIENT better attention better adjustment minimized problems life saving care constant medical and nursing care PHYSICIAN assuring best nursing care drugs and equipments at hand orders carried out effectively better clinical an team service HOSPITAL effective and efficient use of staff improved public image NURSING PERSONNEL individual skills can be used more time with patient helping pt. and family to solve problems job satisfaction in-service education COMMUNITY continuity with hospital services minimize the need of hospitalization IMPLICATIONS OF PPC FOR NURSING EDUCATION Many nurse educators feel that the PPC hospital where all five phases of care are available can provide clinical experience in which the nurse can learn to solve basic nursing problems in meeting patients’ needs. The three month assignment of professional nurses may no longer be realistic in such a setting. Organization of hospital and community services based on patients needs In the intensive care unit, the critically ill patients are concentrated regardless of diagnosis. These patients are under the constant audio-visual observation of the nurse, with life saving techniques and equipment immediately available In the intermediate care unit are concentrated patients requiring a moderate amount of nursing care, not of an emergency nature, who are ambulatory for short periods, and who are beginning to participate in he planning of their own care The self-care unit provides for patients who are physically self-sufficient and require diagnostic and convalescent care in hotel-type accommodations. This unit serves as a link between the hospital and the home. In the long-term care unit are concentrated patients requiring prolonged care. The grouping of such patients will permit staffing patterns that are less costly Home care, the fifth element of progressive patient care, extends hospital services into the home to assist the physician in the care of his patients USEFULNESS The patient centered approach was constructed to be useful to nursing practice, with impetus for it being nursing education. Abdellah’s publications on nursing education began with her dissertation; her interest in education for nurses continues into the present. Abdellah has also published on nursing, nursing research, and public policy related to nursing in several international publications. She has been a strong advocate for improving nursing practice through nursing research VALUE IN EXTENDING NURSING SCIENCE It helped to bring structure and organization to what was often a disorganized collection of lectures and experiences. She categorized nursing problems based on the individual’s needs and developed developed a typology of nursing treatment and nursing skills.. NURSING RESEARCH She has been a leader in nursing research and has over one hundred publications related to nursing care, education for advanced practice in nursing and nursing research. LIMITATIONS Very strong nursing centered orientation Little emphasis on what the client is to achieve Her framework is inconsistent with the concept of holism Potential problems might be overlooked SUMMARY Using Abdellah’s concepts of health, nursing problems, and problem solving, the theoretical statement of nursing that can be derived is the use of the problem solving approach with key nursing problems related to health needs of people. From this framework, 21 nursing problems were developed CONCLUSIONS Abdellah’s theory provides a basis for determining and organizing nursing care. The problems also provide a basis for organizing appropriate nursing strategies. It is anticipated that by solving the nursing problems, the client would be moved toward health. The nurse’s philosophical frame of reference would determine whether this theory and the 21 nursing problems could be implemented in practice. REFERENCES George Julia B. Nursing theories: The base of professional nursing practice 3rd edition. Norwalk, CN: Appleton and Lange; 1990. Abdellah, F.G. The federal role in nursing education. Nursing outlook. 1987, 35(5),224-225. Abdellah, F.G. Public policy impacting on nursing care of older adults .In E.M. Baines (Ed.), perspectives on gerontological nursing. Newbury, CA: Sage publications. 1991. Abdellah, F.G., & Levine, E. Preparing nursing research for the 21st century. New York: Springer. 1994. Abdellah, F.G., Beland, I.L., Martin, A., & Matheney, R.V. Patient-centered approaches to nursing (2nd ed.). New York: Mac Millan. 1968. Abdellah, F.G. Evolution of nursing as a profession: perspective on manpower development. International Nursing Review, 1972); 19, 3.. Abdellah, F.G.). The nature of nursing science. In L.H. Nicholl (Ed.), perspectives on nursing theory. Boston: Little, Brown, 1986.