The CSUB Department of Nursing Conceptual Model has been developed by the Department of Nursing faculty to reflect the Department’s philosophy and to provide a framework within which the objectives, major concepts and primary strands of the curriculum can be articulated. It is based on general systems theory and views the client (person-family-group-community) as a multi-system entity (physiological, psychological, sociocultural systems).

The CSUB Conceptual Model represents the nurse (in the roles of clinician, educator, leader and researcher) as operating within the framework of the nursing process and interacting with the client within the environment in which both exist.

Concepts in the curriculum are developed in four major areas:

1. Clients of Nursing
2. System Stability/Maximum Functional Status
3. Nursing Roles
4. Nursing Process

DEFINITIONS for CONCEPTUAL MODEL

CLIENT SYSTEMS/FUNCTIONAL HEALTH
PATTERNS/HUMAN RESPONSE PATTERNS

CLIENT SYSTEMS are defined as (1) physiological, which maintains a constant internal environment directed toward cellular and total system survival; (2) psychological, which pertains to intrapsychic personal dynamics including the psychological needs emerging from personal growth and environmental interaction; (3) sociocultural, which refers to the client’s ethnic and cultural background and includes values, beliefs, roles and practices learned and influenced by the social network and socio-economic status.

A pattern is defined “as a configuration of behaviors that occur sequentially across time” (Gordon, 1994, p. 70). “FUNCTIONAL HEALTH PATTERNS [or ways of living] of clients, whether individuals, families or communities, evolve from client-environment interaction. Each pattern is an expression of biopsychosocial integration. No one pattern can be understood without knowledge of other patterns. Functional patterns are influenced by biological, developmental, cultural, social and spiritual factors” (Gordon, 1994, p. 318). Functional health patterns can be assessed developmentally which allows for change over the passage of time. The eleven functional health patterns include Health perception-health management, Nutritional-metabolic, Elimination, Activity-exercise, Sleep-rest, Cognitive-perceptual, Self-perception – self-concept, Role-relationship, Sexuality-reproductive, Coping-stress tolerance, and Value-belief patterns (Gordon, 1994, p. 70).

A HUMAN RESPONSE PATTERN is manifested through the client’s interaction with the environment (internal and external). There are three types of human responses: actual health problems, potential health problems and wellness responses (health promoting responses).

The Human Response Patterns are defined as:

Choosing. To select between alternatives; the action of selecting or exercising preference in regard to a matter in which one is a free agent; to determine in favor of a course; to decide in accordance with inclinations.

Communicating. To converse; to impart, confer, or transmit thoughts, feelings, or information, internally or externally, verbally or nonverbally.

Exchanging. To give, replenish, or lose something while receiving something in return; the substitution of one element for another; the reciprocal act of giving and receiving.

Feeling. To experience consciousness, sensation, apprehension, or sense; to be consciously or emotionally affected by a fact, event, or state.

Knowing. To recognize or acknowledge a thing or a person; to be familiar with by experience or through information or report; to be cognizant of something through observation, inquiry, or information; to be conversant with a body of facts, principles, or methods of action; to understand.

Moving. To change the place or position of a body or any member of the body; to put and/or keep in motion; to provoke an excretion or discharge; the urge to action or to do something; to take action.

Perceiving. To apprehend with the mind; to become aware of by the senses; to apprehend what is not open or present to observation; to take in fully or adequately.

Relating. To connect; to establish a link between; to stand in some association to another thing, person, or place; to be borne or thrust in between things.

Valuing. To be concerned about; to care; the worth or worthiness; the relative status of a thing, or the esteem in which it is held, according to its real or supposed worth, usefulness, or importance; one’s opinion of or liking for a real person or thing; to equate in importance. From: Carroll-Johnson, R.M. (Ed.). (1991). Classification of nursing diagnoses: Proceedings of the ninth conference, Nursing Diagnosis Association of North America. Philadelphia: Lippincott, p. 464.

SYSTEM STABILITY/MAXIMUM FUNCTIONAL HEALTH STATUS. The goal toward which nursing interventions and care are directed. Indicates that the multiple systems are interacting in a way which results in optimal functioning of the individual.

HEALTH. An ever-changing process of energy interchange which influences one’s growth and development. It consists of the ability to function optimally within an ever-changing environment. The establishment of system stability makes energy available for preventing and recovering from illness. Parameters of health are defined by specific societies.

ENVIRONMENT. The internal and external aspects of the surroundings of a system that influence the system. Includes human, social, political, economic, geographic and climatic factors influencing each other, with emphasis on the influence of these multiple interactions on the health status of clients.

THE NURSE. The nurse is a student/professional who provides services to the client through incorporation of the roles of clinician, researcher, educator and leader. Nurses utilize critical thinking, progressive inquiry and decision-making skills while using the nursing process to achieve client system stability/maximum function. Nurses encounter clients when “life processes” involve health issues. Since the ANA Social Policy Statement (1995) says that nursing is “the diagnosis and treatment of human responses to actual or potential health problems,” human responses are the phenomena of concern to nurses.

NURSING ROLES—In each of the identified roles, the nurse uses the nursing process, communication skills, and client advocacy. Historical, legal and ethical aspects of client care are also included.

Clinician. Provides care to clients.

Researcher. Uses the research process as a problem-solving approach to systematically address nursing problems that advance the knowledge of the nursing profession.

Educator. Uses learning theories and the teaching process in an interactive way to increase the client’s knowledge.

Leader. Uses informal or formal power and decision-making skills to move a group or organization toward one or more goals.

NURSING PROCESS. A deliberative, systematic approach for making decisions about a client’s health state and improvements that can be achieved through nursing interventions, the specific nursing implementation to accomplish these changes, and the effectiveness of the implementation. It is seen to occur in five phases: (1) assessment, (2) nursing diagnosis, (3) planning, (4) intervention, and (5) evaluation.

Updated 2-06