"The unique function of the nurse is to assist the individual, sick or well, in the performance of those activities contributing to health or its recovery (or to 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." -Virginia Henderson

During my last semester in nursing school I took a class on nursing theory. It was an intro level grad school course, so most of the people in the class were already practicing nurses who were coming back for an advance practice degree. I think most of us went into that class expecting to hate it. It was a about nursing theorists...people who did research...eww...(or so I thought). Most of the most vocal people in that class did hate it. I was very surprised, but somehow I found myself in the minority. I loved that class! It was a lot of work, but oddly enough, I found that I did really well and liked how it made me think. It was surprising to me that it seemed like almost everyone thought it was so painful.

It's strange, but for some reason people in clinical practice seem to have a knee-jerk negative reaction to anything "research" or "theory" related. I understand that reaction a little better now having be working in the clinical setting for a while now. A lot of times the theory or research seems impractical or not applicable to real life nursing. It makes me sad though, because it shouldn't be!

For the class, our final paper was to choose one of the mainstream nursing theorists and analyze their work. I did mine on Virginia Henderson and her philosophy of nursing. That quote I started this post with was one of her key definitions of what she saw as the primary functions of nursing. I loved it at the time because it was so practical. If you know me, you know that I like tangible, practical things. Reading that quote again today, I am struck with how much sense it makes to me still. I work on a med-surg unit. Most of my patients have had recent surgery. Everything that I do in my job, basically, is to help them regain independence as they recover. I help them get up out of bed for the first time after their surgery (all the while saying things like: "Yes, you have to get up. I promise you can. Look, you went much farther than you thought you could.") I teach them about the medications they will have to take. I try (though it sometimes feels unsuccessful) to make their discharge home go smoothly.

In my mind, all of that is summed up really well by what Virginia Henderson said. It helps me have a better idea of what my goals and priorities  should be. For a type-A perfectionist, that is a very helpful thing, since it is impossible to do absolutely everything. And since I would imagine that I am not the only type-A, perfectionist nurse in the world, I think more people ought to read and appreciate the work of Virginia Henderson and her friends.

If I ever teach nursing, you can bet my students will either love or hate her work, since they will most certainly be hearing about it a lot.