MAJOR CONCEPTS (Client, Health, Environment, Nursing)
Benner incorporated assumptions from the Dreyfus model, “that with experience and mastery the skill is transformed.” She furthered , “This model assumes that all practical situations are far more complex than can be described by formal models, theories and textbook descriptions.”
PERSON:
Benner and Wrubel use Heidiegger’s phenomenological description of a person, “A person is a self-interpreting being, that is, the person does not come into the world predefined but gets defined in the course of living a life. In addition, a person also has . . . an effortless and non-reflective understanding of the self in the world. He is seen as a participant in common meanings. Finally, the person is embodied. Benner and Wrubel have conceptualized the major aspects of understanding that the person must deal with as:
- the role of the situation
- the role of the body,
- the role of personal concerns
- the role of temporality.
This view of the person is based on the works of Heidegger, Merleau, Ponty, and Dreyfus.
HEALTH:
Is defined as what can be assessed, while well being is the human experience of health or wholeness. Health is described as not just the absence of disease and illness. A person may have a disease but not experience illness because illness is the human experience of loss or dysfunction, whereas disease is what can be assessed at the physical level.
SITUATION:
Benner and Wrubel used the term rather than environment because situation conveys a social environment with social definition and meaningfulness. They use the phenomenological terms of being situated and situated meaning, that are defined by the person’s engaged interaction, interpretation, and understanding of the situation. They stated, “To be situated implies that one has a past, present, and future and that all of these aspects . . . influence the current situation.” Persons “enter into situations with their own sets of meanings, habits, and perspectives.” “Personal interpretation of the situation is bounded by the way the individual is in it.”
HEALTH:
Is defined as what can be assessed, while well being is the human experience of health or wholeness. Health is described as not just the absence of disease and illness. A person may have a disease but not experience illness because illness is the human experience of loss or dysfunction, whereas disease is what can be assessed at the physical level.
