Neuman's lines of defense

[Brirn08]

Anyone have a good way of determining the degree of penetration using the Betty Neuman Model. We have to include this information in our clinical paperwork and I seem to get caught up on what stressors cause the penetration for my client.

Thanks a bunch!

[Soon2BPaeds]

Anyone have a good way of determining the degree of penetration using the Betty Neuman Model. We have to include this information in our clinical paperwork and I seem to get caught up on what stressors cause the penetration for my client.

Thanks a bunch!

There is no standard way to determine the degree of penetration. I find the most difficult part to be determining what my normal line of defense is going to be (ie. what is their "normal state of health"). Next I consider what kinds of defenses they have to make up their flexible lines of defense (these depend on the patient and the situation you are looking at - can be lots of things from immunizations to parenting classes) and then determine if any of these have been compromised (thus penetrated).

If their situation is at least as good as what you decided was their normal health then you know the normal line of defense is still intact. If it is not then you know they have penetrated into the lines of defense.

If their health is in complete chaos then you know they have penetrated the core.

I hope this helps a bit (this theory can be a little confusing, I found it to be the hardest section to right on my community nursing paper)