Lydia Hall Nursing Theory

Lydia Eloise Hall Nursing Theory:

 "care,core, cure Model"

   

Biography

Lydia Eloise Hall, nursing theorist of the Care, Cure, Core model of nursing was born in New York City on September 21, 1906 and grew up in Pennsylvania. Lydia Hall graduated  at New York Hospital School of Nursing on1927, Bachelors in Public Health Nursing on 1932, and earns a Master of Arts degree in 1942 at Teacher’s College,Columbia University. She was an innovator, motivator, and mentor to nurses in all phases of their careers, and advocate for the chronically ill patient. She promoted involvement of the community in health-care issues. She derived from her knowledge ofpsychiatry and nursing experiences in the Loeb Center the framework she used in formulating her theory of nursing. These experiences might have given her insight in on the distinct roles of nurses in providing care for the patients and how the nurses can be of utmost importance in caring for these patients.

LYDIA ELOISE HALL: Care, Cure, Core Nursing Theory

The Care, Cure, Core Theory of Nursing was developed by Lydia Hall, who used her knowledge of psychiatry and nursing experiences in the Loeb Center as a framework for formulating the theory. It contains three independent but interconnected circles: the core, the care, and the cure.

The core is the patient receiving nursing care. The core has goals set by him or herself rather than by any other person, and behaves according to his or her feelings and values.

The cure is the attention given to patients by medical professionals. Hall explains in the model that the cure circle is shared by the nurse with other health professionals, such as physicians or physical therapists. These are the interventions or actions geared toward treating the patient for whatever illness or disease he or she is suffering from.

The care circle addresses the role of nurses, and is focused on performing the task of nurturing patients. This means the "motherly" care provided by nurses, which may include comfort measures, patient instruction, and helping the patient meet his or her needs when help is needed.

In all the circles of the model, the nurse is present. The focus of the nurse's role is on the care circle. This is where she acts as a professional in order to help the patient meet his or her needs and attain a sense of balance. 

Concepts:  

The "Core, Care, and Cure" Theory was developed in the late 1960's.  She postulated that individuals could be conceptualized in three separate domains: the body (care), the illness, (cure), and the person (core).

Hall believed patients should receive care ONLY from professional nurses. Nursing involves interacting with a patient in a complex process of teaching and learning. Hall was not pleased with the concept of team nursing--she said that "any career that is defined around the work that has to be done, and how it is divided to get it done, is a "trade" (rather than a profession).

Nursing functions in all three of the circles (core, care, and cure) but shares them to different degrees with other disciplines. For example, the nurse's function in the cure circle is limited to helping patients/families deal with the measures instituted by the physician. She felt that the care circle was exclusive to nursing. The core circle was shared with social workers, psychologists, clergy, etc.

Major Concepts

The individual human who is 16 years of age or older and past the acute stage of a long-term illness is the focus of nursing care in Hall’s work. The source of energy and motivation for healing is the individual care recipient, not the health care provider. Hall emphasizes the importance of the individual as unique, capable of growth and learning, and requiring a total person approach.

Health can be inferred to be a state of self-awareness with conscious selection of behaviors that are optimal for that individual. Hall stresses the need to help the person explore the meaning of his or her behavior to identify and overcome problems through developing self-identity and maturity.

The concept of society/environment is dealt with in relation to the individual. Hall is credited with developing the concept of Loeb Center because she assumed that the hospital environment during treatment of acute illness creates a difficult psychological experience for the ill individual (Bowar-Ferres, 1975). Loeb Center focuses on providing an environment that is conducive to self-development. In such a setting, the focus of the action of the nurses is the individual, so that any actions taken in relation to society or environment are for the purpose of assisting the individual in attaining a personal goal.

Nursing is identified as consisting of participation in the care, core, and cure aspects of patient care.

Analysis

Hall imposed an age requirement for the application of her theory which is 16 years of age and above. This limits the theory since it cannot be disregarded that nurses are faced with pediatric clients every now and then. Even though Hall confined her concepts for that age bracket, the concepts of care, core and cure can still be applied to every age group but again, none was specified.

The only tool of therapeutic communication Hall discussed is reflection. By inference, all other techniques of therapeutic communication are eliminated. Reflection is not always the most effective technique to be used.

The concept of a patient aggregate such as having families and communities as the focus of nursing practice was not tackled. It is purely on the individual himself. Although, the role of the family or the community within the patient’s environment was modestly discussed.

In the focus of nursing care in Hall’s concepts, the individual must pass an acute stage of illness for you to successfully apply her theory. Therefore, this theory relates only to those who are ill. This indicates that no nursing contact with healthy individuals, families, or communities, and it negates the concept of health maintenance and disease prevention.

by: Wilner Mark S. Delos Arcos