# Nursing Metaparadigms --- A **metaparadigm** is a "set of concepts and propositions that sets forth the phenomena with which a discipline is concerned." In other words, they are broad concepts that make up the "pillars" of an entire discipline. In [[nursing]] the metaparadigms are **person**, **environment**, **health**, and **nursing** itself. ## Person The **person** metaparadigm of nursing refers not only to the patient, but their family and friends as well. In nursing we want to have the person the center of what we do, often referred to as "person-centered care". *A person is more than the sum of their medical history*. It's the difference between seeing some illness or injury to treat first and the person affected by those things second, or seeing the person first and their illness or injury second. We always strive to empower patients to have as much say, control and power as they can in regards to their own health and wellbeing. This is why health education is so imporant, and why we always want the patient to do as much of their own care as they can. ## Environment The **environment** metaparadigm of nursing refers to the components that go into the patient's surroundings. This does include the patient's physical surroundings like in their room, but also their emotional and social surroundings, and broader environments like their economic conditions, geographic locations, [[culture]] and technology as well. Essentially anything that can have an impact on one's health or wellbeing is part of their environment. ## Health The **health** metaparadigm of nursing refers to where a patient falls on the health-illness continuum during their encounter. This includes physical health, but also [[mental health|mental]], emotional, social and [[spirituality]] health. Any given person's health is expected to fluxuate over the course of their life—sometimes we're sick and sometimes we're healthy! The health-illness continuum also takes into account how someone's health status will change, and how a past or current illness can affect them for the rest if their lives. It's also individualized—what is healthy for an 80 year old man may not be for a 18 year old. ## Nursing The **nursing** metaparadigm refers to the body of knowledge—including theory, practice, and skills, as well as caring and compassion—that make up the skillset that is nursing. Essentially, anything a nurse does for their patient could be included in this metaparadigm. ___