FAYE ABDELLAH : TYPOLOGY OF 21 NURSING PROBLEMS Fur P.
Serquinia, RN, RM, MAN©
FAYE ABDELLAH
Typology of 21 Nursing Problems
MAJOR CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS
NURSING
 Service to individuals and families;
therefore service to the society. It is based
upon the art and science which molds the
attitudes, intellectual competencies, and
technical competencies and technical skills
of the individual nurse into the desire and
ability to help people sick or well may be
carried out under general or specific
medical direction
NURSING PROBLEM
 the nursing problem presented by the
patient is a condition faced by the patient
and family which the nurse can assist him or
them to meet through the performance of
her professional functions the problem can
be covert or overt
OVERT NURSING PROBLEM
 is an apparent condition faced by the
patient and family which the nurse can
assist him or them to meet through the
performance of her professional functions
COVERT NURSING PROBLEM
 is concealed or hidden condition faced by
the patient or family which the nurse can
assist him or her to meet through the
performance of her professional functions
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PROBLEM-SOLVING
 The process of identifying overt and covert
nursing problems and interpreting,
analyzing and selecting appropriate courses
of action to solve these problems
 The nurse must be able to solve problems
to give the best professional nursing care
 The steps for problem solving are very
similar to the nursing process.
MAJOR ASSUMPTION: NURSING
 It is a helping profession. Nursing care is
doing or for the person providing
information to the person with goal of
meeting needs, increasing or restoring their
self-help ability or alleviating impairment.
 Determine the nursing care strategies to
administer is based on problem-solving
approach
 The correct administration of nursing
problem is paramount importance.
 Determination of covert, requires the
master of communication skills and patient
interaction.
 The role of the nurse in health is limited to
circumstances of anticipated impairment.
MAJOR ASSUMPTION: PERSON
 Abdellah describes people as having typical
emotional and sociological needs. These
needs maybe overt, largely consisting of
physical needs and covert consisting of
emotional and social needs.
 She describes the patient as the only
justification for the existence of nursing.
 FAYE ABDELLAH : TYPOLOGY OF 21 NURSING PROBLEMS Fur P. Serquinia, RN, RM, MAN©
 People are helped by the identification and
alleviation of the problems they are
experiencing.
 All persons have self-help ability and
capacity to learn, both of which vary from
person to person (identifying these qualities
on a comatose patient or an infant without
family resources maybe difficult)
MAJOR ASSUMPTION: HEALTH
 It is a state that is mutually exclusive illness.
 Abdellah implicitly defined as health as a
state when the individual has no unmet
needs and no anticipated or actual
impairments.
MAJOR ASSUMPTION: ENVIRONMENT
 This is the least discussed in Abdellah’s
model.
 In her typology nursing problem number 17
is “to create and/or maintain a therapeutic
environment.
TYPOLOGY OF 21 NURSING PROBLEMS
1. To maintain good hygiene and physical
comfort
2. To promote optimal activity: exercise, rest
and sleep
3. To promote safety through prevention of
accident and injury or other trauma and
through the prevention of the spread of
infection
4. To maintain good body mechanics and
prevent and correct deformity
5. To facilitate the maintenance of a supply of
oxygen to all body cells
6. To facilitate the maintenance of nutrition of
all body cells
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7. To facilitate the maintenance of
elimination
8. To facilitate the maintenance of fluid and
electrolyte balance
9. To recognize the physiological responses of
the body to disease conditions –
pathological, physiological, and
compensatory
10. To facilitate the maintenance of regulatory
mechanisms and functions
11. To facilitate the maintenance of sensory
function
12. To identify and accept positive and negative
expressions, feelings and reactions
13. To identify and accept inter-relatedness of
emotions and organic illness
14. To facilitate maintenance of effective and
verbal and non-verbal communication
15. To promote development of productive
interrelationships
16. To facilitate the progress toward
achievement and spiritual goals
17. To create and maintain a therapeutic
environment
18. To facilitate awareness of self as an
individual with varying needs physical,
emotional and developmental needs
19. To accept the optimum goals in the light of
limitations, physical and emotional
20. To use community resources as an aid in
resolving problems arising problems
21. To understand the role of social problems
as influencing factors in the case of illness.
THEORETICAL ASSERTIONS
1. The nursing problems and the nursing
treatment typologies are the principles of
nursing practice and constitute the unique
body of knowledge that is nursing
2. Correct identification of the nursing
problem influences the nurse’s judgment in
 FAYE ABDELLAH : TYPOLOGY OF 21 NURSING PROBLEMS Fur P. Serquinia, RN, RM, MAN©
selecting steps in solving the patient’s
problem
3. The core of nursing is the patient/client
problems that focus on the patient and
his/her problem.
ACCEPTANCE OF ABDELLAH’S THEORY
NURSING PRACTICE
 Abdellah’s typology of 21 nursing problem
helps nurses practice in an organized,
systematic way
 Using the 21 nursing problem, the clinical
practitioner could assess the patient, make
a nursing diagnosis and plan interventions
 Abdellah herself said that she used nursing
problems because 30 years ago it was
considered a heresy if one would use
“nursing diagnoses”
 The typology was used as the basis for
developing the nursing care model used for
planning staffing patterns in clinical
settings. The staffing patterns were based
on patient’s identified needs.
 The nursing care model consisted of
intensive care, intermediate care, long-term
care, self-care, and home car units.
 By grouping patients according to similar
needs rather than by diagnoses, nursing
care could provide the best staffing
patterns to meet patient’s needs.
 The concept of nursing problems has
moved to patient problem and nursing
outcomes to patient outcomes
 The concept of nursing diagnoses and
problem solving are still use today
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EDUCATION
 The typology had an impact on the nursing
curriculum development
 The typology provided a body of knowledge
and an opportunity to move away from the
medical model of educating nurses
RESEARCH
 The typology of 21 nursing problems was
created through research, therefore more
research studies followed its introduction
 Function studies examined the amount of
time the nurse spent with the patient
CRITIQUE OF ABDELLAH’S THEORY
SIMPLICITY
 The typology is simple and us descriptive of
the nursing problems thought common
among patients
 The concepts are defined but the
relationships of these concepts are not
stated (only implied)
GENERALITY
 Abdellah acknowledges that her list is
neither exhaustive or listed according to
priorities
EMPIRICAL PRECISION
 The concepts are within the domain of
nursing. Some research studies have been
done to validate the nursing problems
 The problem solving problems can be
considered the precursor of the nursing
process that we use today.
 FAYE ABDELLAH : TYPOLOGY OF 21 NURSING PROBLEMS Fur P. Serquinia, RN, RM, MAN©

REFERENCES:

George, J. (1995). Nursing Theories: The Basis for Professional

Nursing Practice. 4th edition. Norwalk, Connecticut: Appleton-
Century Crofts.
rd
Marriner-Tommey, A. (1994). Nursing Theorists and their Works. 3
edition. St. Louis: Mosby Year Book, Inc.
University of the Philippines Open University (2005). N207:
Theoretical Foundations of Nursing. UPOU: National Computer
Center, Diliman, Quezon City.

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