SYSTEMS APPROACH AND NURSING

Systems Approach And Nursing

Systems Approach And Nursing

Introduction

Dorothy Johnson has had an influence on nursing through her publications since the 1950s. Throughout her career, Johnson has stressed the importance of research-based knowledge about the effect of nursing care on clients.

Johnson's behavior system model

In 1968 Dorothy first proposed her model of nursing care as fostering of “the efficient and effective behavioral functioning in the patient to prevent illness".

She also stated that nursing was “concerned with man as an integrated whole and this is the specific knowledge of order we require”.

In 1980 Johnson published her conceptualization of “behavioral system of model for nursing” this is the first work of Dorothy that explicates her definitions of the behavioral system model.

Nursing

She defined nursing as “an external regulatory force which acts to preserve the organization and integration of the patients behaviors at an optimum level under those conditions in which the behaviors constitutes a threat to the physical or social health, or in which illness is found”

Based on this definition there are four goals of nursing are to assist the patient:

Whose behavior commensurate with social demands.

Who is able to modify his behavior in ways that it supports biological imperatives

Who is able to benefit to the fullest extent during illness from the physicians knowledge and skill.

Whose behavior does not give evidence of unnecessary trauma as a consequence of illness 

Assumptions of behavioral system model

There are several layers of assumptions that Johnson makes in the development of conceptualization of the behavioral system model (Johnson was influenced by Buckley ,Chin and Rapport) there are 4 assumptions of system:

First assumption states that there is “organization, interaction, interdependency and integration of the parts and elements of behaviors that go to make up The system ” 

A system “tends to achieve a balance among the various forces operating within and upon it', and that man strive continually to maintain a behavioral system balance and steady state by more or less automatic adjustments and adaptations to the natural forces impinging upon him.”

A behavioral system, which both requires and results in some degree of regularity and constancy in behavior, is essential to man that is to say, it is functionally significant in that it serves a useful purpose, both in social life and for the individual.

The final assumption states “system balance reflects adjustments and adaptations that are successful in some way and to some degree.”

The integration of these assumptions provides the behavioral system with ...