APPLICATIONS OF THE THEORY:

I. IN NURSING PRACTICE
 Abdellah’s theory helped transform the focus of the profession from
“disease centered” to “patient centered”.
 Her categorization of nursing problems based on individual’s need served
as a basis for determining and organizing nursing care.
 Using the twenty one nursing problems technique the clinical practitioner
could assess the patient , and make nursing diagnosis nad plan
interventions.
II. IN NURSING EDUCATION
 Abdellah’s theories and concepts provided structure to nursing curriculum.
 Nursing education slowly deviated its concentration from complex ,medical
concepts to better attention to client as the primary concern.
 The patient centered approach supported and facilitated the move from
medical model to a nursing model.
III. IN NURSING RESEARCH
 Her typology gave birth to more nursing research and studies
 The concepts are very precise and straightforward , making it simple and
applicable , thus stimulating similar disciplines and researches
 Her framework continues to stimulate research about roles and
responsibilities of the nurse.

LIMITATIONS:

 A major limitation is the lack of continued research to link effectivesness of use of

21 nursing problems to successful outcome of nursing care.
 The label of “nursing problem” tend to lead the reader believe that Abdellah’s
work is nursing –centered.
 In care settings where nurse h very limited time to spend with each patient, use of
21 nursing problems could further fractionalize care.