NON-NURSING THEORIES RELEVANT TO NURSING PRACTICE

BERTALANFY’S
GENERAL SYSTEM THEORY
Theorist: Name: Karl Ludwig Von Bertallanfy

 He was born on September 19, 1901 and grew up in the little village of
Atzgersdorf (now Liesing) near Vienna Ludwig's father Gustav von
Bertalanffy was a prominent railway administrator. His mother, Charlotte
Vogel, was seventeen when she married the thirty-four-year-old Gustav.
They divorced when Ludwig was ten, and both remarried outside the
Catholic Church in civil ceremonies. Ludwig von Bertalanffy grew up as an
only child educated at home by private tutors until he was ten

● Education: He studied Philosophy and Art History at University of

Innsbruck but he needed to make a choice if he will continue that degree or
pursue a degree in Biology.
o He choose the latter and so he studied Biology at University of
Vienna. Because according to him , everyone can be a philosopher
later in life, but not everyone can be a biologist.

● Death: Died in Buffalo New York in 1972, at the age of 71.

Contributions:
 Concepts of open systems and steady state (flux equilibrium)
Theory: General System Theory

 A system is a complex of interacting elements and that they are open to, and
interact with their environments. In addition, they can acquire qualitatively
new properties through emergence, thus they are in a continual evolution.
 “The whole is more that the sum of its parts” 
How this Person:
theory affects Affect the person in such a manner that he or she is the recipient of the highest level
the following: of treatment, as all facets of his or her illness are considered before any action is
provided.

Health:
In physical, psychological, esthetic and spiritual domains, one should assume the full
existence of the client including his/her tension and coping strategy.

Environment:
The way a person communicates constantly with his or her environments has an
effect on his/her health and well-being since the environment consists of internal and
external stimuli.

Nursing:
 Systematically integrates the aspects identified by the client in such a way that nurses
can provide steps that are suitable for his/her needs.
Your
thoughts on This theory is efficient in identifying and treating a patient’s sickness as it does not
this theory focus on one specific area since the human body is interconnected with different
and how this systems that enable it to function.
migh affect
your nursing
career: