Glossary of Terms

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Glossary of Terms, as compiled by Group E's Jennifer Meren

Assessment – It is the first stage of the nursing process, in which data about the patient’s health status is collected and from which a nursing care plan may be devised.

Basic to All Patients – These are 4 of the 21 nursing problems defined by Abdellah which are as follows: 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, and to maintain good body mechanics and prevent and correct deformity.

Environment – It is the home or community from which the patient comes from.

Evaluation – It is the final stage of the nursing process, in which the effects of nursing interventions are compared with the goals or objectives set in the care plan.

Expected outcome - A statement in the care plan of what the nursing intervention is intended to achieve, usually described in terms of the patient's expected behavior.

Holism - Principle that an organism, or one of its actions, is not equal to merely the sum of its parts but must be perceived or studied as a whole.

Independence - The ability to carry out activities that support one’s own lifestyle and to control the care given by others.

Individuals (and families) – They are the recipients of nursing.

Nursing  - It is a helping profession. Abdellah considered nursing to be a comprehensive service that is based on art and science and aims to help people, sick or well, cope with their health needs.

Nursing care – It 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 Care Plan - A plan, based on a nursing assessment and a nursing diagnosis, carried out by a nurse. It has four essential components: identification of the nursing care problems or nursing diagnoses and statement of the nursing approach to solve those problems; statement of the expected benefit to the patient; statement of the specific actions by the nurse that reflect the nursing approach and achieve the goals specified; and evaluation of the patient's response to nursing care and readjustment of that care as required.

Nursing Diagnosis - The nursing diagnosis is the nurse’s clinical and educated judgment about the client’s response to actual or potential health conditions or needs. The diagnosis is the basis for the nurse’s care plan and it is used to determine the course of treatment.

Nursing Intervention – It is an act to implement the nursing care plan as part of the nursing process.

Nursing problem – It 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.

Nursing Process – It is an individualized problem-solving approach to the nursing care of patients. It involves four stages: assessment (of the patient's problems), planning (how to resolve them), implementation (of the plans), and evaluation (of their success).

Nursing Research – It is a detailed systematic study of a problem in the field of nursing. Nursing research is practice- or discipline-oriented and is essential for the continued development of the scientific base of professional nursing practice.

Nursing Skills –Abdellah’s theory states that the nurse should have 11 steps to be used in creating a care plan and are as follows: Observe the health status of patients, Communicate effectively with patients, Apply knowledge Teach patients and families, Plan and organize work, Use resource materials, Use personnel resources, Solve problems, Teach and direct work of others, Use self as a therapeutic tool, Perform nursing procedures with skill.

Optimum health – It is the condition of being sound in body, mind, or spirit especially freedom from physical disease or pain. Health, or achieving of it, is the purpose of nursing services.

Patient – It is an individual or client awaiting or under medical care and treatment. Patient is described as the only justification for the existence of nursing in Abdellah’s theory.

Patient needs - The client’s health needs can be viewed as problems, which may be overt as an apparent condition, or covert as a hidden or concealed one. See Nursing problem.

Planning – It is based on the assessment and diagnosis of the nursing problem, the nurse establishes measurable and achievable goals for the patient. It is the stage of the nursing process in which an individual care plan is produced, stating the patient’s problem and the objectives.

Problem solving – This approaches the advantage of increasing the nurse's critical and analytical thinking skills since the care to be provided would be based on sound assessment and validation of findings.

Remedial Care Needs – The patient has the need 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 – The patient has the need 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, and to understand the role of social problems as influencing factors in the case of illness.

Scientific Method - A systematic, ordered approach to the gathering of data and the solving of problems. The basic approach is the statement of the problem followed by the statement of a hypothesis. An experimental method is established to help confirm or negate the hypothesis. The results of the experiment are observed, and conclusions are drawn from observed results. The conclusions may tend to uphold or to refute the hypothesis.

Sustenal Care Needs – The patient has the need 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, and to facilitate the maintenance of sensory function.




 References List:

Faye Abdellah Nursing Theory. (2011) Retrieved August 27, 2017 from http://www.whyiwanttobeanurse.org/nursing-theories/twenty-one-nursing-problems.php
Nursing intervention, nursing process, evaluation. Elizabeth A. Martin and Tanya A. McFerran Oxford dictionary of Nursing , 7th edition (2017) Retrieved August 27, 2017 from http://www.oxfordreference.com/search?btog=chap&isQuickSearch=true&page=2&page Size=10&q=nursing+care+plan&sort=relevance

Gonzalo, A. (2011).Theoretical Foundations of Nursing/ Faye G. Abdellah. Retrieved August 27, 2017 from http://nursingtheories.weebly.com/faye-g-abdellah.html

Faye Glenn Abdellah's Theory. (October 31, 2011) Retrieved August 26, 2017 from http://currentnursing.com/nursing_theory/Abdellah.html

holism. (n.d.) Mosby's Medical Dictionary, 8th edition. (2009). Retrieved August 26, 2017 from http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/holism

independence. (n.d.) Farlex Partner Medical Dictionary. (2012). Retrieved August 26, 2017 from http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/independencehttp://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/scientific+method

nursing research. (n.d.) Mosby's Medical Dictionary, 8th edition. (2009). Retrieved August 27, 2017 from http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/nursing+research

nursing care plan. (n.d.) Mosby's Medical Dictionary, 8th edition. (2009). Retrieved August 27, 2017 from http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/nursing+care+plan

patient. (n.d.) The American Heritage® Medical Dictionary. (2007). Retrieved August 27, 2017 from http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/patient

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