ERNESTINE WIEDENBACH: BIOGRAPHY, THEORY, OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS - BIOGRAPHIES - 2024

Ernestine Wiedenbach (1900-1998) was in charge of developing the theory and philosophy on which nursing was based. Within this area of ​​medicine, she specialized in midwifery. During her professional career she also served as an author and teacher. She even developed her nursing theories while teaching at Yale.

His work was recognized worldwide after publishing his first book. It was a text that dealt with nursing in the maternity area, the objective of which was to delve into the care that should be provided and its approach to the family.

Photo by Ernestine Wiedenbach. Source: Reality RN.

Biography

Early academic years

Ernestine Wiedenbach was born into a wealthy family on August 18, 1900, in Hamburg, Germany. Her interest in nursing began when she was forced to care for her ailing grandmother.

This new passion grew thanks to the fact that Wiedenbach's sister had a friend who was a medical student and whose stories on the subject fascinated the German.

Despite this passion for science, Wiedenbach first earned a liberal arts degree from Wellesley College in the United States. Later, in 1922, he entered nursing school, although he did so without the support of his family.

Wiedenbach was expelled from the first academic institution she attended for echoing complaints from a group of students. This was not an impediment to her later entering the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. Her permanence was always conditional, since she could not participate in any student demonstration.

Work stage

She graduated from Johns Hopkins in 1925 and was offered a position as a supervisor. A position he held until he moved to Bellevue.

He never abandoned his education. She took evening classes at Columbia University and completed a master's degree, in addition to receiving a certificate in public health nursing. All this for the year 1934. She even practiced in public medicine by working with organizations that sought to improve the conditions of the most needy.

During one stage of his career, Wiedenbach wrote for newspapers. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, she took a more active role and was in charge of the training of the nurses who acted during World War II.

At the age of 45, she continued studying and enrolled, on the recommendation of Hazel Corbin, in the School for Midwives. When she obtained the title, she worked as a midwife and declared that what she liked the most was attending births at home. She also taught at night.

In 1952 she became the director of Yale Nursing Graduate Neonatal Programs. It was instrumental in the university adding a graduate program on midwifery.

He retired in 1966 and never married. She died when she was 97 years old, on March 8, 1998.

Theory

Wiedenbach developed his theory of nursing in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The central idea of ​​the proposal was based on knowing how nurses could help patients. In this model, nursing care was discussed for the first time and gave guidelines on what the process was like.

Helping was Wiedenbach's main concern in his proposal and nursing should revolve around this concept.

The German defined nursing assistance as those tasks that allowed other people to overcome any problem that could affect their normal functioning. That is, the goal of the infirmary was to provide comfort.

In his studies, Wiedenbach discussed the different types of help that could be given to a patient during their care. In addition, the role of nurses was vital to achieving successful medical care.

The theory of nursing that Wiedenbach proposed delved into several new concepts in the area. He defined the main actors as patients and nurses. Both had very active roles in the care process.

The patients did not always refer to sick people, since the recipient of the aid could also be any individual whose objective was to educate themselves on a health topic.

Wiedenbach also spoke in his theory about other concepts such as the need for help, knowledge, validation, the perception of people. Likewise, he gave great importance to feelings and thoughts, since he explained that they were the tools of a nurse to define the care needs of a patient.

Wiedenbach's theory evolved over time and was fed by practice and the study of new medical cases.

Statements

Wiedenbach explained in his theory that the help provided thanks to nursing consisted of several factors: the need to receive assistance, the approval to be assisted and the service provided.

The validation of the aid, for example, would allow the effectiveness of the work performed by the nurses to be greater.

In this proposal it was vital to discern between facts and assumptions. In this sense, the role of the nurses was decisive since they needed to decipher when the help was necessary.

The skills necessary for nursing, according to the theory, spoke of a perfect synchronization between movements, precision when taking measurements and the effective use of them.

critics

For some, Weidenbach's theory did not have enough links between the concepts it developed. The main criticism focused on inconsistencies and a lack of clarity in some of the terms presented.

An argument of the detractors of Weidenbach's theory stated that the impact of the proposal was very limited in scope. The patient should want to participate in their care, understand the need to receive or ask for help, and be aware of the environment and context.

Regardless, Weidenbach was credited for his effort to detail and determine the philosophical premises on which he based his thoughts.

Influence

Weidenbach was a professor of nursing at Yale, specifically in the area of ​​maternity, during the years she was working on her theory. She benefited greatly from the ideas of Patricia James and James Dickoff. They were both philosophers who gave philosophy classes to nurses.

That is why Weidenbach's theory has a very marked holistic approach. Vision that also defined the guidelines for the care that nursing should provide.

The contribution of the nurse Ida Orlando was also decisive in Weidenbach's theory. Orlando spoke of the relationship between patient and nurse.

Other Contributions

Ernestine Wiedenbach was the author of several books and articles that were published during her career. In 1958 she wrote one of her most important works, Family Centered Maternity Nursing. In 1964 she wrote Clinical Nursing: A Helping Art.

References

1. George, J. (1995). Nursing theories. Appleton & Lange.
2. Meleis, A. Theoretical nursing (4th ed.). Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
3. Reed, P., & Shearer, N. (2012). Perspectives on nursing theory. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health / Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
4. Sitzman, K., & Eichelberger, L. (2011). Understanding the work of nurse theorists (2nd ed.). Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
5. Snowden, A., Donnell, A., & Duffy, T. (2014). Pioneering Theories in Nursing. Luton: Andrews UK.