Human beings respond in a singular yet
integrated fashion.
Each individual responds wholly and com-
pletely to every alteration in his or her life
pattern.
Individuals cannot be understood out of
the context of their environment.
“Ultimately, decisions for nursing care are
based on the unique behavior of the individual
patient....A theory of nursing must recognize
the importance of unique detail of care for a
single patient within an empiric framework
which successfully describes the requirements
of all patients” (Levine, 1973, p. 6).
“Patient-centered care means individualized
nursing care. It is predicated on the reality of
common experience: every man is a unique in-
dividual, and as such requires a unique constel-
lation of skills, techniques, and ideas designed
specially for him” (Levine, 1973, p. 23).
“Every self-sustaining system monitors its
own behavior by conserving the use of re-
sources required to define its unique identity”
(Levine, 1991, p. 4).
The nurse is responsible for recognizing the
state of altered health and the patient’s organis-
mic response to altered health.
Nursing is a unique contributor to patient
care (Levine, 1988a).
The patient is in an altered state of health
(Levine, 1973). A patient is one who seeks health
care because of a desire to remain healthy or
one who identifies a known or possible risk be-
havior.
A guardian-angel activity assumes that the
nurse accepts responsibility and shows concern
based on knowledge that makes it possible to de-
cide on the patient’s behalf and in his [or her]
best interest (Levine, 1973).
Values
All nursing actions are moral actions.
Two moral imperatives are the sanctity of
life and the relief of suffering.
Ethical behavior “is the day-to-day expres-
sion of one’s commitment to other persons and
the ways in which human beings relate to one
another in their daily interactions” (Levine,
1977, p. 846).
A fully informed individual should make
decisions regarding life and death in advance of
the situations. These decisions are not the role
of the health-care providers or families (Levine,
1989b).
Judgments by nurses or doctors about
quality of life are inappropriate and should
not be used as a basis for the allocation of
care (Levine, 1989b).
“Persons who require the intensive inter-
ventions of critical care units enter with a con-
tract of trust. To respect trust...is a moral
responsibility” (Levine, 1988b, p. 88).PART TWO
Applications
The model’s universality is supported by the
model’s use in a variety of situations and patients’
conditions across the life span. A growing body of
research is providing support for the development
of scientific knowledge related to the model.USE OF THE CONSERVATION
MODEL IN PRACTICE
The model has been used to guide patient care in
settings such as critical care (Brunner, 1985; Langer,
1990; Littrell & Schumann, 1989; Lynn-McHale &
Smith, 1991; Tribotti, 1990), acute care (Foreman,
1989, 1991, 1996; Molchany, 1992; Schaefer, 1991a;
Schaefer & Shober-Potylycki, 1993; Schaefer,
Swavely, Rothenberger, Hess, & Willistin, 1996),
emergency room (Pond & Taney, 1991), primary
care (Pond, 1991), in the operating room
(Crawford-Gamble, 1986), long-term/extended
care (Cox, 1991), homeless (Pond, 1991), and in the
community (Dow & Mest, 1997; Pond, 1991).
This model has been used with a variety of pa-
tients across the life span, including the neonate
(Mefford, 1999; Tribotti, 1990), infant (Newport,
1984; Savage & Culbert, 1989), young child (Dever,
1991), pregnant woman (Roberts, Fleming, &
(Yeates) Giese, 1991), young adult (Pasco & Halupa,CHAPTER 9 Myra Levine’s Conservation Model and Its Applications 1012 3 5 6 7 8 9104111
23456