Nursing Foundations: Key Terms and Concepts

Key vocabulary terms and concise definitions drawn from the lecture notes to aid study and exam preparation.

Animism

An early belief that health is influenced by spirits: good spirits bring health, evil spirits bring sickness; a primitive theory of illness.

Nurse-midwife

A nurse who specializes in childbirth and maternal care, practicing in homes and communities.

Deaconess

Early Christian women who visits the sick; established during the early Christian period as a formal nursing role.

Nursing orders (Crusades)

Male and female religious orders founded during the Crusades that included nursing and caregiving duties.

Florence Nightingale

Founder of modern nursing; elevated the status of nurses, established the first formal nurse training school, and wrote influential nursing texts.

Nightingale Training School

The first formal school for nursing education established by Florence Nightingale.

Hospital schools

Nursing schools organized within hospitals to provide more controlled and cheaper staffing; often under male administrators.

Nutrix

Latin root meaning “to nourish,” from which the term nursing is historically linked.

ICN

Promotion of health, prevention of illness, advocacy, safe environment, research, shaping health policy, and education.

ANA

Social policy statement; patient is the central focus, encompassing physical, emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions.

Patient-centered care

Care that centers on the patient and their holistic needs, preferences, and values.

QSEN Competencies

A set of skills for nursing education: patient-centered care, teamwork, quality improvement, safety, EBP, and informatics.

Aims of Nursing

Promote health; prevent illness; restore health; facilitate coping with disability or death.

Cognitive competence

Carefully thinking through problems and decisions; part of blended competencies.

Technical competence

Manipulating equipment and performing procedures effectively.

Interpersonal competence

Using therapeutic communication and relationships to care for patients.

Ethical/legal competence

Adhering to moral principles and professional laws and standards.

Caregiver (nursing role)

Primary role that integrates other roles to meet physical, emotional, intellectual, sociocultural, and spiritual needs.

Communicator

Using interpersonal skills to establish and maintain therapeutic relationships with patients.

Teacher/Educator

Assessing learning needs and delivering teaching plans to patients and families.

Counselor

Providing information, referrals, and support to help patients solve problems and make decisions.

Leader

Assertive, self-confident nursing practice that guides others and leads change.

Researcher

Participation in or conduct of nursing research to increase knowledge and improve care.

Advocate

Defending patients’ rights and helping them access needed resources and information.

Collaborator

Working with other health care professionals to achieve optimal patient outcomes.

Promoting Health

Identifying and maximizing patient strengths to prevent illness, restore health, and cope with disability or death.

Health literacy

The ability to obtain, process, and understand basic health information to make appropriate health decisions.

Healthy People 2030 (Health Promotion Guidelines)

Goals to promote health, reduce disparities, and improve well-being across life stages through supportive environments and leadership.

Primary prevention

Activities aimed at preventing disease before it occurs (e.g., immunizations, education).

Secondary prevention

Early disease detection to prompt treatment (e.g., screenings).

Tertiary prevention

Reducing disability and rehabilitating patients after disease/damage has occurred.

Hospice

Care that provides palliative, supportive services for dying patients and their families.

Nurse Practice Acts

State laws that define the legal scope of nursing practice and establish the state boards of nursing.

Standards of Nursing Practice

Established guidelines for nursing care and professional performance.

Nurse Practice Acts

Regulates the practice of nursing, including education and licensure

Nursing Process

A guideline for nursing practice, enabling nurses to implement their roles

ANA Standards of Nursing Practice

Protects & allows nurses to carry out professional roles

National League of Nursing

Creates the development & improvement of nursing services

Thoughtful, Person-Centered Practice

An approach in healthcare and social care where the individual's unique needs, preferences, and values are central to the planning, delivery, and evaluation of care. It emphasizes empathy, respect, and understanding the person as a whole, rather than just their condition or diagnosis.

Self-Care

Actively focusing on creating and maintains a balance and synergy of physical, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual, personal, and professional well-being

Signs of Fatigue in Nursing Profession

Compassion fatigue, burnout, secondary traumatic stress

Resilience

An individual’s ability to recover quickly from difficulties with a hopeful attitude

Thoughtful, Person-Centered Practice

An approach in healthcare and social care where the individual's unique needs, preferences, and values are central to the planning, delivery, and evaluation of care. It emphasizes empathy, respect, and understanding the person as a whole, rather than just their condition or diagnosis.