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p. 81) in a process that corrects and expands her
own angular view. This is the pattern of the dialectic
process, which is reflected throughout Humanistic
Nursing Theory. In the dialectic process there is a
repetitive pattern of organizing the dissimilar into a
higher level (Barnum, 1990, p. 44). At this higher
level, differences are assimilated to create the new.
This repetitive dialectic process of humanistic
nursing is an approach that feels comfortable and
natural for those who think inductively.
The pervasive theme of dialectic assimilation
speaks to universal interrelatedness from the sim-
plest to the most complex level. Human beings, by
virtue of their ability to self-observe, have the
unique capacity to transcend themselves and reflect
on their relationship to the universe. This dialectic
process has a pattern similar to that of the call-and-
response paradigm of Humanistic Nursing Theory.
This paradigm speaks to the interactive dialogue
between two different human beings from which a
unique yet universal instance of nursing emerges.
The nursing interaction is limited in time and
space, but the internalization of that experience
adds something new to each person’s angular view.


Neither is the same as before. Each is more because
of that coming together. The coming together of
the nurse and the patient, the between in the lived
world, is nursing. Just as in the double helix of the
DNA molecule (where this interweaving pattern is
what structures the individual), in the fabric of
Humanistic Nursing Theory this intentional inter-
weaving between patient and nurse is what gives
nursing its structure, form, and meaning.

THE CONCEPT OF COMMUNITY
The definition of community presented by Drs.
Paterson and Zderad is: “Two or more persons

The definition of community presented
by Drs. Paterson and Zderad is: “Two or
more persons struggling together toward
a center.”

struggling together toward a center” (1976, p. 131).
In any community there is the individual and the
collective known as the “community.” Plato points
to the microcosm and the macrocosm and pro-
poses that the one is reflective of the many.
Humanistic Nursing Theory similarly proposes
that the interaction of one nurse is a reflection of
the recurrent pattern of nursing and is therefore
worth reflecting upon and valuing. According to
Humanistic Nursing Theory, there is an inherent
obligation of nurses to one another and to the com-
munity of nurses. That which enhances one of us,
enhances all of us. Through openness, sharing, and
caring, we each will expand our angular views, each
becoming more than before. Subsequently, we take
back into our nursing community these expanded
selves, which in turn will touch our patients, other
colleagues, and the world of health care.

PART TWO


Applications


NURSE’S REFLECTION ON NURSING

These descriptive explorations illuminate the
concepts of empathy, comfort, and presence

CHAPTER 11 Josephine Paterson and Loretta Zderad’s Humanistic Nursing Theory and Its Applications 133

Subjective Objective

Synthesizes

sudden insights

Noetic Loci

"knowing place"

Dialectic

a new overall grasp

FIGURE 11–6 Nurses complementarily synthesizing knowing
others.

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