Lydia Hall
's nursing theory is applicable to how each nurse cares for a patient.
Lydia Hall was a rehabilitation nurse and fundamental nursing theorist of the 1960s. She asserted that individual care could be seen in three different areas: care (the body); core (the person); and cure (the illness). Her theory helped pave the way to modern nursing, where nurses use critical thinking and medical knowledge to treat and heal a patient, rather than merely carry out doctors' orders.
History
Lydia Hall completed her basic nursing education in 1927 and her baccalaureate degree in public health nursing in 1937. She later achieved a master's degree in natural science and went on to become the first director of the Loeb Center for Nursing, a rehabilitation hospital in Bronx, New York, that is still in operation today. She had been a practicing nurse for more than 30 years when she developed the theory of "Care, Core, Cure" in the late 1960s.
Care
"Care" focuses on hands-on bodily care and the belief that a caring touch and thorough assessment is therapeutic. This nurturing component, also referred to as "mothering" the patient, was done with the goal of comforting the patient and helping them meet their needs. Hall believed this was an aspect of care that was exclusive to nurses.
Core
In Hall's theory, "core" refers to using therapeutic communication to help the patient understand not only his condition, but also his life. In this aspect, patient care was based on social sciences and shared with other parts of the community, such as psychologists and clergy. The goal is to help patients learn their roles in the healing process, maintain who they are, and learn to use the nurse as a sounding board.
Cure
"Cure" refers to nurses applying their medical knowledge of the disease to assist with a plan of care. Patient care in this section is based on pathological science. In this aspect, the function of the nurse is to assist the patient and her family in coping with treatment ordered by a physician. It is also here that a nurse's role as a patient advocate comes into play; she must advocate her plan of care for the best interest of the patient.
Considerations
Hall's theory was the first to refer to the importance of the total person needing care. It also was the first theory to perceive nurses as professionals and established that care should be given only by trained nurses. Hall also included care of the family in addition to the family, and focused on maintaining optimal health and quality of life.
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