PGIMER Chandigarh NO - 2015
Nursing Foundation
Easy

Priorities of assessment & planning in Nursing process is based on:

Appeared in: PGIMER Chandigarh NO - 2015

Explanation

  • Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs provides a systematic framework for prioritizing patient care.
  • It establishes that basic physiological needs essential for survival (like airway, breathing, and circulation) must be addressed before higher-level needs.
  • This model helps nurses make critical decisions, especially in acute care settings, by focusing on life-threatening issues first, followed by safety, and then psychosocial needs.
  • The hierarchy progresses from Physiological needs to Safety, Love/Belonging, Esteem, and finally Self-Actualization.

Why Other Options Were Wrong

  • Option B: The 'Dangers of illness model' is not a recognized or standard theoretical framework used for prioritization in the nursing process. It is a distractor.
  • Option C: Hildegard Peplau's Interpersonal Theory focuses on the phases and therapeutic nature of the nurse-patient relationship. It does not provide a hierarchical structure for prioritizing different types of patient needs.
  • Option D: Dorothea Orem's Self-Care Deficit Theory is used to determine the extent to which a patient is unable to care for themselves and to define the level of nursing intervention required. It focuses on the patient's ability to perform self-care, not on prioritizing a list of needs.

Related Visual

An infographic of Maslows pyramid adapted for nursing. The base level should be labeled Physiological Needs with icons for Airway, Breathing, Circulation ABCs, food, and wa...
Clinical Relevance
  • Nursing practice connection: Use the key finding related to Prioritization Frameworks in the Nursing Process to guide bedside assessment, documentation, and the next nursing action.
  • In daily practice, nurses constantly use Maslow's hierarchy to triage tasks. For example, a nurse will administer pain medication (physiological need) to a post-operative patient before providing discharge teaching (a higher-level need).
  • During an emergency, such as a patient experiencing respiratory distress, the ABCs (Airway, Breathing, Circulation) derived from the physiological needs level become the absolute and immediate priority over all other concerns.
  • What if? If a patient is physiologically stable but has just been diagnosed with a terminal illness and is expressing feelings of hopelessness, the priority may shift from basic physical care to addressing the 'Safety' need (preventing self-harm) and 'Love/Belonging' (providing emotional support and connecting them with family).
How to Approach the Question
  • First, identify the core concept of the question, which is about the basis for 'priorities' in the nursing process.
  • Recognize that the question is asking for a foundational theory or model.
  • Evaluate the given options, which are all different nursing theories.
  • Recall the fundamental principles of each theory. Maslow's theory is uniquely characterized by its hierarchical structure of human needs.
  • Connect the concept of 'hierarchy' directly to the concept of 'prioritization'. A hierarchy naturally creates an order of importance.
  • Eliminate the other options by identifying their primary focus: Peplau's theory is about relationships, and Orem's is about self-care deficits. Neither is primarily a model for ranking all patient needs.
Concept Tested & Keywords
  • Concept Tested: Prioritization Frameworks in the Nursing Process
  • Stem keywords: Priorities, assessment & planning, Nursing process
  • Lead-in keywords: based on

Question ID

Q3zkVYp7gbKk1snSq0y9p3

Reference Book

E6 Nursing Fundamentals Potter Perry 12e Part 1 pp. 91-93, 66-68

E6 Nursing Fundamentals Taylor p. 1055-1057

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