Name: Virginia Avenel Henderson

“The First Lady of Nursing,” “The Nightingale of Modern Nursing,”

“Modern-Day Mother of Nursing,” “The 20th Century Florence
Nightingale.” & “First International Nurse”
Born: November 30, 1897, in Kansas City, Missouri
Died: March 16, 1996 at age 98 at the Connecticut Hospice,
Branford. CT
Virginia Anderson on her Need theory
“ The unique function of the nurse is to
assist the individual, sick or well, in the
performance of those activities contributing
to health or it’s 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 rapidly as
possible” (Henderson, 1991).
Assumptions of the Need Theory
(1) Nurses care for patients until they can care for themselves once
again.
(2) Patients desire to return to health.
(3) Nurses are willing to serve, and that “nurses will devote themselves
to the patient day and night.
(4) The mind and body are inseparable and are interrelated.
Major Concepts of
METAPARADIGMS OF HENDERSON’S THEORY
14 COMPONENTS TO THE NEEDS THEORY
THEORETICAL ASSERTIONS:
1. The Nurse-Patient Relationship

•The nurse as a substitute for the patient.

•The nurse as a helper to the patient.
•The nurse as a partner with the patient.
2. The Nurse-Physician Relationship
♥ Nurse and the patient , as partners, formulate the
plan of care, it must be implemented in such a way
that will promote the physician’s prescribed
therapeutic plan.

♥ Nurse do not follow doctor’s order, rather they

follow in a philosophy which allows physicians to give
orders to patients or other healthcare team members.
3. The Nurse As A Member Of Healthcare
Team
♥ The nurse, as a member of the healthcare team,
works and contributes in carrying out the total
program of care. However, working interdependently,
as Henderson indicated, does not include taking other
member’s roles and responsibilities.
ACCEPTANCE BY THE NURSING
COMMUNITY
•Practice:
♥ Assessment Phase – assess the patients for 14 fundamental needs
and determine what are lacking.

♥ Planning Phase - plan to meet the needs fit to the doctors prescribed
plan.

♥ Implementation Phase - uses the 14 basic needs in answering the

factors contribute to the illness.

♥Evaluation phase- decides whether goals are met or not.

ACCEPTANCE BY THE NURSING
COMMUNITY
•Education:
♥ First Phase - Emphasis is made on helping the patient perform
activities of daily living.

♥ Second Phase – Importance is placed on assisting patients achieved

their needs in times of marked body disturbances or illness.

♥ Third Phase – Centered on the patient and his family together with
the dynamics affecting the relationship inside the unit.
ACCEPTANCE BY THE NURSING
COMMUNITY
•Research:
♥ Research questions arise from each of the 14 components of basic
nursing care.

♥ No profession, occupation or industry in this age can evaluate

adequately or improve it practice without research.

♥ Offer a framework for generating knowledge and new ideas.

♥ She emphasized the importance of research in evaluating and

improving the nurses’ practice.