Ernestine Wiedenbach Ernestine Wiedenbach was a pioneer in nursing theory and nursing philosophy. She was an author, nurse-midwife, and teacher. Clinically she specialized in nurse midwifery and it was at Yale teaching that her nursing theories were developed. Wiedenbach was recognized for her work in writing the first maternity nursing text book that focused on family-centered care. (Barger, Faucher, & Murphy, 2015). Her theories were influenced by Ida Orlando, Patricia James and William Dickoff who were all colleagues at Yale. Wiedenbach was passionate about nursing and she longed for further knowledge. Wiedenbach asked questions like what do nurses do and why they do it? (Wylie, 2010) It was from questions like this her theory was developed.
Wiedenbach’s theory is based on identifying a patient’s need-for-help through nursing interaction. Wiedenbach (1963) defines her theory as follows, “Nursing is a helping art - a deliberate blending of thoughts, feelings, and overt actions. It is practiced in relation to an individual who is in need of help, is rooted in an explicit philosophy, and is directed towards fulfillment of a specific purpose” (p. 54). Wiedenbach believed there were four components to clinical nursing: philosophy, purpose, practice, and art. Wiedenbach felt that the each individual nurse is responsible for identifying their own philosophy based on their own values and life experience. Purpose is the goal the nurse hopes to achieve through the nurse-patient relationship. Wiedenbach believed that nursing was goal-driven. Practice is the actions the nurse takes to help the patient achieve the set goal. Wiedenbach spent much of her time explaining this component of clinical nursing because she felt nursing “is a practice discipline that involves action.” (Wiedenbach, 1970, p. 1057) She further outlined three steps of the nursing