h2cm: where does 'programming' begin and end?

On first impressions Hodges' model is a table. Its structure shouts "table!"
It is a table around which we can gather. It is political: a tabular rasa.

Since 1987 I've been fascinated by the potential that this basic construct, call it the 2 x 2 starter kit for holistic care has to conceptualise (as someone at the HEA Critical Reflection SIG meeting noted), represent, and explain nursing, health, social care and umpteen other situations.

It has great potential because of what we might do with the contents of the table.

This two x two table instructs.

It makes demands: "Initialise Me" with at least four care concepts.

It has critical reflective potential.

  
Nursing care problems, relapse prevention plans, strengths and steps to recovery can suddenly take on another dynamic form. The extent to which this transforms is still in human* hands (and minds!) but I am sure this informational potential and purpose is there; especially reading Fowler (2010):

This use of tables as source code is unusual, but it's an application that could be used more often. People like specifying things in tabular form, whether it's examples for test data or more general processing rules such as a Decision Table (495). Many domain experts are very comfortable with editing tables in spreadsheets, which can then be processed into source code. p.156. Fowler (2010) Chapter 10 A Zoo of DSLs.

You can see why nursing - health and social care are so complex:

- staff are busily 'programming' in at least two or three domains and constantly pressured to theorise and practice safely and effectively in four (*five when we include the spiritual).

Fowler, M. (2010) Domain Specific Languages: Addison-Wesley Signature Series, Addison-Wesley Professional.