Nurse-patient communication: A strategy in humanizing care

Abstract

With more than three decades of professional experience in the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, I want to share some thoughts on Virginia Henderson’s conceptual model and her definition of nursing, which in essence is "help healthy or sick people to carry out activities that contribute to their health or recovery (or to a peaceful death), which they could do unaided if they had enough strength, will, or knowledge.” For Virginia Henderson, the healthy or sick individual is a complete whole with fourteen fundamental needs, and the role of the nurse is to help them regain their independence as quickly as possible.