FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE'S CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF NURSING
Wendy Davis
GRAND CANYON UNIVERSITY
NRS
430V
Melissa Britt
May 4, 2016

FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE'S CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF NURSING

Florence Nightingale conceptualized disease as a reparative process and described the nurse’s role as manipulating the environment to facilitate and encourage this process. Her directions regarding ventilation, warmth, light, diet cleanliness, variety and noise are discussed in her classic textbook (Notes on Nursing), first published in London in 1859 and in America in 1860.
Brief Overview
The environment is critical to health and the nurse’s role in caring for the sick is to provide a clean, quiet, peaceful environment to promote healing. Nightingale’s intent was to describe nursing and provide guidelines for nursing education.
Person
Nightingale focused on the person as “the recipient of nursing care” (Selanders,2010). However, the person connection also includes family members and other groups important to the individual. The care structure considers the patient’s spiritual and social needs as well as healthcare needs. The resulting health outcome is attributed to how the person interacts with these physical and social connections. The premise is that the person is empowered to manage his health and well-being with dignity and self-preservation with positive personal connections. Today in nursing we have incorporated the concept of patient and family centered care. Thereby including, if the patient so desires, all the individuals who render care to him.
Health
The health component of the four metaparadigms refers to the extent of wellness and healthcare access that the individual has. Health is described as a state of being well and utilizing one’s powers to the fullest. Illness or disease is the reaction of nature against the conditions in which human beings have placed