Application of the Henderson Nursing Model from a Holistic Perspective Article

Application of the Henderson Nursing position from a Holistic Perspective - article ExampleApplication of the Henderson Nursing Model from a Holistic Perspective Virginia Henderson was an advanced woman of her time. By 1934 she had earned both her Bachelors of Nursing and her Masters Degree in Nursing Education and was well on her way towards making one of the biggest changes in nursing history. In an era where hold ups were starting to be apprehended for more than their ability to change dressings, Hendersons work on a theory of nursing was the unspoiled move at the right time in history (Nursing Theory, 2011). Hendersons Nursing Model Henderson is known as a needs theorist (Kim & Kollak, 2006, p.17). Her prime theory was centered on the cerebration that a nurses position was to help the individual to gain their own independence. This lent a flexibility to the nursing model an idea that a nurse could be many things to the same persevering. Henderson assemble it as assisting the individual, sick or well, in the performance of those activities contributing to the 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 apace as possible (1961, p. 42). ... She was also a strong proponent for the idea that the nurses contract and duty is to the patient rather than the doctor which was a prevalent belief prior to that time. Nicholl (1997) wrote about her Hendersons definition of nursing was a major shift from the task-procedure perspective and one of the earliest widely utilise definitions to present a conceptualization of nursing that included function and goal (p.509). Henderson viewed a nurses function as being either substitutive (doing something instead of the patient) supplementary (helping the patient directly to do something) or complementary (working with the patient to do something). This way the patient had a certain control over how his or her treatment went with the nurse identified as someone who can facilitate that process (Nursing Theory, 2011). This emphasis on the patient having some control over his or her health and treatment is one aspect that resonates with holistic health practices. Holistic Medicine and the Henderson Nursing Model Holistic medicine is defined as a doctrine of preventive and therapeutic medicine that emphasizes the necessity of looking at the whole personhis body, mind, emotions, and milieurather than at an isolated function or organ...holistic medicine puts ownership of the patients health back with the patient, doctrine the precepts of exercise, a good diet, adequate sleep, fresh air, and moderation in personal habits (Shaw, 2008). Originally considered new fester and totally against the medical methods of treatment, in more recent times holistic aspects of health c be are working alongside mainstream medical techniques. While it could not be said that Virginia Henderson was a