Nursing Theory Lecture 15: Myra Estrin Levine

Myra Estrin Levine

(1973)

Conservation Model

Conservation Model
• Believes nursing intervention is a conservation activity, with conservation of energy as a primary concern, four conservation principles of nursing: conservation of client energy, conservation of structured integrity, conservation of personal integrity, conservation of social integrity.
• Described the Four Conversation Principles. She advocated that nursing is a human interaction and proposed four conservation principles of nursing which are concerned with the unity and integrity of the individual. The four conservation principles are as follows:
1. Conservation of energy. The human body functions by utilizing energy. The human body needs energy producing input (food, oxygen, fluids) to allow energy utilization output.
2. Conservation of Structural Integrity. The human body has physical boundaries (skin and mucous membrane) that must be maintained to facilitate health and prevent harmful agents from entering the body.
3. Conservation of Personal Integrity. The nursing interventions are based on the conservation of the individual client’s personality. Every individual has sense of identity, self worth and self esteem, which must be preserved and enhanced by nurses.
4. Conservation of Social integrity. The social integrity of the client reflects the family and the community in which the client functions. Health care institutions may separate individuals from their family. It is important for nurses to consider the individual in the context of the family.

Metaparadigm

Person
• A holistic being

Environment
• Broadly, includes all the individual’s experiences

Health
• The maintenance of the client’s unity and integrity

Nursing
• A discipline rooted in the organic dependency of the individual human being on his or her relationship with others