Nursing Theory 315
Ida Jean Orland was a first- generation American of Italian decent, born 1926. She received her diploma in nursing at New York Medical College in 1947, Bachelor of Science in Public health from St. Johns University in Brooklyn, New York in 1951 and her Master of Arts Degree in Mental Health Nursing from Columbia University. Orlando was an associate Professor at Yale School of Nursing, and while there she served as the Director of the Graduate Program in Mental Health Psychiatric Nursing. She was the project investigator of a National Institute of Mental Health grant entitled Integration of Mental Health Concepts in Basic Nursing Curriculum. In 1961, Orlando published her theory, The Dynamic Nurse- Patient Relationship and in 1972 The Discipline and Teaching of Nursing Process. She has served as a board member of Harvard Community Health Plan. Her theory is explanatory and straightforward, she believes that the role of the nurse is to find out and meet the patients immediate need for help. She describes nursing as it is, the nurse is responsible for gathering all the information directly from the patient and making decisions based on this information. We as nurses are the Care Plan that we develop, however, we must always be aware that situations change and we must be able to adapt to the change immediately and come up with other ways of treatment without allowing it to interfere with the quality of care that the patient is receiving. She directly states definition of nursing that can summarize the theory provided by Ida Jean Orlando. “All patients behavior can be a cry for help, both verbal and non-verbal. It is up to the nurse to interpret their behavior and determine the needs of the patient”. Nursing differs from medicine according to this theory because based on Orlando’s theory; everything we need to know to provide the best care to the patient is received directly from the patient.