University of Phoenix
College of Health and Human Services
NUR/513 Theoretical Foundations of Practice
Instructor: Willie Goodwin
Darlene Lefler, R.N.
09-29-2014
Ida Jean Orlando Pelletier
Ida Jean Orlando Pelletier’s nursing theory, sometimes referred to as the deliberative nursing process or the nursing process discipline by Orlando, is one of the most effective practice theories used in the field of nursing today (Schmieding, 1990). Experiencing, reviewing and observing over 2,000 nurse and patient interactions helped her to develop her theory in nursing. In the following paper Ida Jean Orlando Pelletier will be from this point forward referred to as Orlando. A discussion of Orlando’s history, education, concept statement, metaparadigms, philosophies, and conceptual model.
Orlando was born in the state of New Jersey in 1926. She grew up being schooled in the public system in Brooklyn, New York. She continued on to higher education and received her nursing degree in 1947 from the New York Medical College at Flower Fifth Avenue Hospital School of Nursing. Then going on to earn her Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Public Health Nursing from the St. John's University, Brooklyn, NY (Schmieding, 1990). Followed by her masters in arts degree with a major in mental health nursing from Teachers College, Columbia University, New York (Schmieding, 1990). Orlando went on after completion of her degrees to be hired as a research associate at Yale University to research the care of psychiatric patients (Schmieding, 1990). After approximately three years with the completion of the research grant she became director of the graduate program in mental health and psychiatric nursing. She left this position in 1961 to move to Boston, Massachusetts (Schmieding, 1990). Once in Massachusetts Orlando became a clinical nursing consultant at the McLean Hospital in Belmont. Orland’s book first book was published in 1961 titled “The Dynamic Nurse-Patient Relationship”. “The book emphasizes the dynamics of the nurse-patient relationship” (Clarke, 1991).
The main principle of Orlando’s theory is the function of the professional nurse. In Orlando’s theory she distinguishes between a lay nurse and a nursing professional. She describes lay nursing as the tasks that are repetitive, routine or custodial in nature. Whereas the nursing professional is one who can determine the immediate need of a patient when a clear answer is unknown by using his or her nursing judgment and knowledge of critical thinking.
The concepts of Orlando’s theory include: the function of the professional nurse (organizing principle), patient’s presenting behavior (problematic situation), the immediate reaction (internal response), the nursing process discipline (investigation) and the patient improvement (resolution). The organizing principle of the theory is to find out the immediate needs of the patient. The problematic situation describes the nurse’s instinct at identifying a need of a patient. The internal response occurs when a nurse perceives with one or more of their five senses, that perception creates a thought, which then the thought creates a response, and then finally ending in an action. The investigation portion is directly looking at the nurse’s internal response of the patient validity. The last step is resolution in which the nurse’s actions are evaluated by the resulting patient care.
Orlando’s theory goes on to describe the interactions between a nurse and a patient. She categorized them in to two groups: good nursing or bad nursing. By observing and reviewing interactions between nurses and patients she began to come to the realization that all nursing interactions where necessary to determine the needs of the patient and then meet the needs of the patient. Nursing is a responsive to patients in need or those who are need of help.
Defining who the patient is as a person establishes