Levine's four conservation principles

Myra Levine

Grand Nursing Theory Based on Interactive Process

Biography — Early & Family Life

Myra Levine was born in 1920 in Chicago, IL (“Myra Estrin Levine,” 2016)

First of three children

Her father’s “persistent gastrointestinal illness” sparked her interest in pursuing a career in nursing

Myra Levine died on March 20, 1996, at age 75

(Gonzalo, 2019)

Biography — Education

Graduated from Cook County School of Nursing

Obtained BSN from the University of Chicago in 1944

Obtained MSN from Wayne State University in Detroit in 1962

Earned honorary doctorate from Loyola University in 1992

(“Myra Estrin Levine,” 2016)

Biography — Nursing Career

Oncology nurse at Gardiner General Hospital in Chicago

Became Director of Nursing Drexel Home in Chicago

Clinical instructor at Bryan Memorial Hospital in Lincoln, NE (“Myra Estrin Levine,” 2016)

Surgical supervisor at the University of Chicago and Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit (Gonzalo, 2019)

Chairperson of clinical nursing at Cook County School of Nursing (“Myra Estrin Levine,” 2016)

Chronological order

Biography — Publications, Awards, & Honors

Works: “The Pursuit of Wholeness,” “For Lack of Love Alone,” “Adaptation and Assessment: A Rationale for Nursing Intervention,” “The Four Conservation Principles of Nursing,” & “Introduction to Clinical Nursing”

Charter fellow of the American Academy of Nursing in 1973

Honorary recognition from the Illinois Nurses’ Association

Member of Sigma Theta Tau at Alpha Beta Chapter

Elected fellow in the Institute of Medicine of Chicago

First recipient of the Elizabeth Russel Belford Award for excellence in teaching from Sigma Theta Tau in 1977

(Gonzalo, 2019)

Best known for “The Four Conservation Principles of Nursing,” the others were preliminary works

She never planned on developing a nursing theory, she worked as a consultant for different hospitals and nursing schools and came up with an organizational structure for teaching med-surg nursing which was the basis for theory development

Philosophical Underpinnings

Understanding the era in which Myra Levine matured helps give background to her theory

Healthcare was based on authoritarianism and physician decisions were not questioned

Nurses were taskers, operating without a scientific origin

(Toon, 2014)

-In noting pioneers in nursing, it is suitable to recall the era in which theorists such as Myra Levine matured. In Levine’s case it is helpful to recall the era in sociological terms, cultural terms and recall the available technology and the discipline of medicine and how nurses ‘fit’ at the time. The environment of her maturation and development became the underpinning of her career and her Theory of Conservation for Nursing.

-nurses were primarily seen as the ‘handmaidens’ of doctors; neither patients nor nurses were anticipated to question a physicians perspective or decision

Philosophical Underpinnings Continued

Social revolution evolved in the 1960’s to early 1970’s

Intellectual development was blossoming

Myra Levine had many different roles (clinical instructor, supervisor, chairperson) (Myra Estrin Levine, 2019).

Definitions of “nursing science” were vague

Theorists began applying biological, medical, and social sciences to nursing (Aita VA, 1995)

Levine had incorporated the conservation of energy, structure, personal, and social integrity into a theory that guided nurses in the provision of care that promotes health through environment, predictably, and illuminates the fact that humans are greater than the sum of their parts, that human response is predictable, that humans are unique, are capable of assessing conditions, situations and objects, and drawing an understanding of those perceptions. Further, Levine extrapolated that humans are self-determinate (even during periods of stress and emotion and that they will formulate their own opinions via reflection (Four Conservation Principals, 2016).

Philosophical Underpinnings Continued

Levine’s focus was on influences and responses, energy supply and demand

Her theory allows for the enhancement of health by working with the patient instead of ‘on’ the patient (Frauman and Rasch, 1995)

Theory was built responsively to her era

Based on patient care perspective and scientific perspective (Myra Levine’s Remarks, 1995)

-Levine’s focus was on influences and responses, energy supply and demand- and the patient outcome when that patient is acted upon and exists with structural, personal, and social integrity and is capable of conservation of energy. Her theory incorporated and explained homeostatic and homeorhetic states of existence and the fluidity of adaptation

-Levine’s theory is the antithesis of authoritarianism and is principally and philosophically balanced to allow healing.

-The fact remains that Levine’s esoteric theory began to develop in a time when a patient’s ‘need to know’ about their care or disease process(es) was nearly nil and physicians were a rarified group and usually authoritarian. It appears that Levine’s theory was built responsively to her era of medical understanding and practice. She developed the highly adaptive model of care that was responsive to the patient’s specific context/need and less focused on medical procedures and standard interventions.

-The bedrock for her logic was crafted by both the era and her unique understanding of what needed to improve in nursing, both from a patient care perspective and from a scientific perspective.

Analysis — Introduction

Purpose of the conservation model is to improve the physical and emotional wellbeing of a person by considering the four domains of conservation

Client Energy

Personal integrity

Structural integrity

Social integrity

Nursing’s role in conservation is to help the person with the process of “keeping together” the total person through the least amount of effort

A conceptual model with three nursing theories

Conservation

Redundancy

Therapeutic intention

(Alligood & Tomney, 2015)

Analysis — Conservation Model

Focuses on promoting adaptation & maintaining wholeness using the conservation principle

Goal: to improve the physical and emotional wellbeing of a person

By proposing to address the conservation of energy, structure, and personal and social integrity, this theory helps guide nurses in the provision of care that will help maintain and promote the health of the patient

(Erickson, Tomlin, & Swain, 2014)

Analysis — Conservation Model Continued

Nursing’s role in conservation is to help the person with the process of “keeping together” the total person through the least amount of effort