FAYE GLENN ABDELLAH
(PATIENT-CENTERED APPROACHES)
HUMAN BEINGS
• describes the recipients of nursing as individuals (and families, and thus, society),
but does not delineate her beliefs or assumptions about the nature of human
beings
HEALTH
• 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
• Included in “planning for optimum health on local, state, national, and international
levels”.
• She indicates that by providing service to individuals and families, society is
served but does not discuss society as a patient nor define society.
NURSING
• Abdellah considers nursing to be a comprehensive service that is based on an art
and science and aims to help people, sick or well, cope with their health needs.
• Broadly grouped into the 21 problem areas to guide care and promote the use of
nursing judgment.
ABDELLAH’S THEORY
• States that nursing is the use of the problem-solving approach with key nursing
problems related to the health needs of people.
NURSING PROBLEMS
• The patient’s health needs can be viewed as problems, which may be overt as an
apparent condition, or covert as a hidden or concealed one.
• Nursing problem presented by a patient is a condition faced by the patient or
patient’s family that the nurse, through the performance of professional functions,
can assist them to meet.
• Abdellah’s use of the term nursing problems can be interpreted as more
consistent with “nursing functions” or “nursing goals” than with patient-centered
problems; this viewpoint could lead to an orientation that is more nursing-
centered than patient-centered.
• In her typology of basic nursing problems presented by patients, she includes
three columns: basic nursing problems presented by the patient, specific
problem of patient, and common conditions
THE TWENTY-ONE NURSING PROBLEMS
• The crucial element within Abdellah’s theory is the correct identification of nursing
problems.
