Nursing models of care: "There is another"!

It seems Star Wars forums continue to debate the meaning of Yoda's response to Obi-Wan that "There is another". 

The lack of practice-based debate in nursing and health education about 'nursing theory' and 'models of care, confirms that these academia sagas did indeed take place in a galaxy far, far away.

There is, as ever, positive and negative news too. The bibliography in the sidebar keeps growing. I'm hoping for news of additions dropping into the inbox before the end of the year. Not just prospective papers I know about (yes, there is another prospect!), but other work. In a way the latter is even more special. As these sporadics reveal that there are research heroes out there, on their own path and journey of discovery. Finding Hodges' model, they have applied it to their respective field.

Yesterday, searching for 'Activities of Daily Living' (first published in 1980) while writing the DASH post, on BMJ Careers I came across:

'What models do nurses use to guide their care?'

Is that 'models' plural?

Perhaps the response to the question says something about:

• nurse academia;
• how our medical colleagues view nursing;
• and more importantly - their understanding of nursing, the nursing profession, ongoing aspirations and relevance to self , health and social care in the 21st century?

In January, frustrated at the effort that is getting published (a shared experience then) and lack of attention to theory I posted:

Are you planning a health* study in 2025?

The literature trail for Hodges' model is not voluminous, but it is there:

• as a model of care, conceptual framework;
• person-centredness;
• integrated and holistic care;
• holistic bandwidth
• SDGs
• life chances, health career, prevention, life-style and literacies
• socio-technical approach
• global health;
• reflection and reflective practice;
• critical thinking
• mind-mapping;
• concepts, conceptual spaces, threshold concepts

- with much more to do, even in the above.

Please, call this a gentle nudge. Thank you.

Image: http://www.quickmeme.com/

Care concept engineering - anyone? [ concepts-maths ii/iii ]

"Concepts are the building blocks for thought, and from Socrates onward one of the goals of philosophers in the Western tradition has been to analyse important philosophical concepts like knowledge, justice, beauty and freedom. For some, the motive was just to get clearer about these fundamental units of thought. For others, the goal was more ambitious. Not content to analyse our concepts, these philosophers hoped to improve them - an old project that has recently acquired a new name: "conceptual engineering". p.98.

"Well, good conceptual engineers, like good engineers in other domains, should start with as much information as possible about which options have already been tried and how well they have worked. If we are going to build a better concept of knowledge, or justice, or moral permissibility, or freedom, we would do well to begin by seeing how these concepts (or their closest analogs) are constructed in cultures around the world, and how well existing varieties work. We would also do well not to restrict ourselves to the millennia old method of cases in studying concepts. Over the last century, linguists, anthropologists, psychologists and neuro-scientists have developed many new methods and technologies for studying concepts. Philosophers who are serious about conceptual engineering should embrace these methods." p.100.

Stich, S., Machery, E., A Possible Future For Philosophy, The Philosopher's Magazine, 1st Quarter 2018. 80: 98-100. 
https://www.stephenstich.com/_files/ugd/0ad9d7_2679b985ce0e43b693d197c775c08e46.pdf

You can call it [conceptual engineering] whatever you wish; in nursing, concept analysis is well established for example. However described, you may find that Hodges' model useful. If you can demonstrate that Hodges' model is not suited to the task, due to its undoubted Cartesian credentials (baggage'), then this would also be progress.

There are no doubt many previous posts this one can be connected to. Most immediately is:

Rediscovering nursing ...? [ concepts-maths i/iii ]

- to follow iii.

This issue of TPM is long gone. In the clear out, I'd drafted these posts.

There is this thing - 'universal construction'

The problem of bugs in software is an ongoing problem across all IT industries. For application that are safety critical we are still reminded of the risk implications and consequences if bugs are software is not tested and bugs - errors identified and corrected.

Back in the 90s during BA(Joint Hons. Philosophy & Computing) studies, I was introduced to the formal specification language 'Z'. It was designed for definition, and modelling of computer software, working from specification to implementation, as per these images:

https://personalpages.bradley.edu/~young/CS592M120_OLD/handoutZed.pdf

https://personalpages.bradley.edu/~young/CS592M120_OLD/handoutZed.pdf

To be clear I've never worked as part of a software project and my 'tinkering' - Drupal, Pharo, online groups, hosting platform - reveals how the development stack and work processes have developed apace. The challenge is keeping up. Simultaneously, there is the sense of being on the bank of deep water; or, a vertiginous cliff:

A little learning is a dang’rous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.
Fir’d at first sight with what the Muse imparts,
In fearless youth we tempt the heights of arts,
While from the bounded level of our mind,
Short views we take, nor see the lengths behind,
But more advanc’d, behold with strange surprise
New, distant scenes of endless science rise! 

Pope. https://interestingliterature.com/2021/09/a-little-learning-is-a-dangerous-thing-meaning-analysis-origin/

 Acknowledging the need for an 'evidence-base' and theoretical underpinning the effort to 'push' Hodges' model forward is ongoing. Maths remains an alien territory to me, but the 'secret garden' is as tantalizing as ever. Over the years I have posted - with much overlap about:

• maths
• relation
• logic

- and more recently:

• isomorphism
• category theory
• and as previously posted - laws of form.

In an effort to get to grips with the above, I'm following various online videos, books and papers. Bartosz Milewski's videos, blog and publications are aimed at programmers, but are very interesting nonetheless. The first video provides an introduction to the motivation and philosophy of category theory. In another, Milewski refers to 'universal construction' on YouTube and in a blog post about 'Function Types'.

The 'universal' figures in healthcare too: universal health access, and universal health coverage appear to over-shadow 'universal health care'. The quality of 'universal' also creeps into assessment. Data gathering is not merely complete, it is comprehensive. It has to be, to contribute not just to a care plan, for one that is (supposedly) person-centred, with risks identified, strengths, weaknesses - needs, history, social network, and much more. The care plan informs and orchestrates the interventions; then evaluation follows. Are we delivering? What is the patient's (client's, carer's) level of satisfaction. Have care stages and actions been completed as per policy (in time!)? (More on this to follow later this year in light of UK mental health/illness news.)

So as I consider (wrestle with...) initial, and terminal objects, sets and categories … I can hopefully, especially with help, extend the number of posts tagged 'universal' here on W2tQ. In this vein, is Hodges' model a universal construction? There may not be a universal truth to reveal, but it will prove a marvellous learning journey.

Axiology, concept, horizon

"The hypothesis that thinking is founded in valuation requires for its development what philosophers call "axiology," the philosophic study of values. Of course, values are not phenomena that float into view, stimulating a "philosophy of values" to study them. Rather, it will be argued that values should be conceived of as the universal character of everything. Axiology, therefore, is the study of things with regard to their value dimension. An axiology of thinking is a study of the various roles of value in thinking." p.12.

individual

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INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

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group

"An image is the horizon in terms of which our definitions of its contents makes sense.  It is like a mental picture of the rough outlines of the world: it handles information by giving each datum a position relative to the rough outlines." p.36.	"A concept is a way of mentally grouping various components whose combination is valuable because of a normative measure. The "real" identity of things comes from the normative measure of which their de facto harmony is an approximation." p.84.

Neville, R.C. (1981) Reconstruction of Thinking, New York: SUNY.

"Moon Fever"

Individual

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      INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC  --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

 SOCIOLOGY  :    POLITICAL 

|

Group

"It still holds the key to madness ...	still controls the tides that  lap on shores everywhere ...
still guards the lovers who kiss ...	in every land under no banner but the sky."                                           E.B. White

Gleick, James. Moon Fever, The New York Review of Books, August 15 - September 25, 2019. LXVI, 13. pp.54-58.
(I knew I was saving this for a reason!)

Image: Viewfinder: 'I want! I want!' (1793) by William Blake

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01171/arts-graphics-2006_1171649a.jpg

Universal and Generic: Hodges' model and conceptual frameworks, or

What the papers say . . .

The purpose of many research papers is to produce a conceptual framework, perhaps as a step towards a greater goal and objective.

Whatever the context or purpose of the conceptual framework:

• Theoretical Framework
• Conceptual Model
• Empirical Framework
• Descriptive Framework
• Analytical Framework
• Conceptual Framework for Policy Analysis
• Logical Frameworks
• Conceptual Frameworks for Program Evaluation
• Conceptual Frameworks for Organizational Analysis
• Conceptual Frameworks for Strategic Planning*

Hodges' model can be applied. This past week I saw a way to illustrate the scope of Hodges' model, which I will revisit. As ever, this merely scratches an itch on #MentalHealthNursesDay.

With apologies to authors and publishers - original citations follow:

Divya Sussana Patil, Ajay Bailey, Sobin George, Martin Hyde & Lena Ashok (2023) Unpacking the role of (INSERT [focus1..x/protected characteristic]) among (INSERT [Population]) for accessing healthcare in (INSERT [City, Town, Village, 3-words; Country]). Global Public Health, 18:1, DOI: 10.1080/17441692.2023.2274438


Ahuvia, I.L., Mullarkey, M.C., Sung, J.Y., Fox, K.R. and Schleider, J.L. (2023), Evaluating a treatment selection approach for (INSERT [modality, delivery]) single-session interventions for (INSERT [Life-stage, Condition/Diagnosis]). J Child Psychol Psychiatr, 64: 1679-1688. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13822

Xu H, Bayless TM, Østbye T, Dupre ME. Care sequences leading to the diagnosis of (INSERT [Disease] and [related]): An analysis of (INSERT [format / owner]) records. Alzheimer's Dement. 2024; 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.13669

Original citations:

Divya Sussana Patil, Ajay Bailey, Sobin George, Martin Hyde & Lena Ashok (2023) Unpacking the role of transport inequalities among older adults for accessing healthcare in Bengaluru, India, Global Public Health, 18:1, DOI: 10.1080/17441692.2023.2274438

My source: https://x.com/HydeM1976/status/1718975653175796085?s=20 (and prompt)

Ahuvia, I.L., Mullarkey, M.C., Sung, J.Y., Fox, K.R. and Schleider, J.L. (2023), Evaluating a treatment selection approach for online single-session interventions for adolescent depression. J Child Psychol Psychiatr, 64: 1679-1688. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13822

https://x.com/acamh/status/1759539440605606159?s=20

Xu H, Bayless TM, Østbye T, Dupre ME. Care sequences leading to the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias: An analysis of electronic health records. Alzheimer's Dement. 2024; 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.13669

https://x.com/DukeGHI/status/1759978730192306179?s=20

*https://researchmethod.net/conceptual-framework/

Is Hodges' Model anathema to 'Extant Nursing Theories' ?

 INDIVIDUAL
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 INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

|

GROUP

	Nursing Science Quarterly

"Are the extant nursing theories endangered species? Some nurse leaders think so. A cursory review of major nursing journals reveals the conspicuous absence of articles using nursing theories as guides to research and practice. These articles are often written by seasoned scholars and doctoral students in nursing, yet nursing science is absent. How can this be when PhD students are being prepared to be knowledge builders for the discipline and their teachers are the seasoned scholars?

This question took center stage in a recent international gathering of nurse researchers and theoreticians."

Parse RR. Are the Extant Nursing Theories Endangered Species? Nursing Science Quarterly. 2023;36(2):109-109. doi:10.1177/08943184221150254

 

 

Hodges' Model is a stranger in a strange land; and as usual I am writing from Wigan Pier - so vastly differing contexts and experiences acknowledged.

 

Whatever its status as a model of nursing, model of care, conceptual framework, nursing theory (level 'x'); as the editorial indicates, if the model were to have a 'home' it might be the USA with its nursing science PhD programmes. 

 

Clearly, this is not the case.

 

Unsuccessful in trying to learn of the international event mentioned, I can take encouragement from Hodges' model being 'stateless' and as such, being global, local and glocal in scope. There is succour in having an origin the model can call home here in the NW England (literal - person-centredness).

The medicalisation of nursing science may be an issue for PhD programmes in the USA, but the inter- multi- transdisciplinary potential of Hodges' model can encompass this - preserving and even assuring disciplinary identity as needed. An original purpose of the model was also curriculum design, and development.

"In all university systems it is the faculty and administrators of nursing programs who make curriculum decisions. These same faculty and administrators promulgate the use of theories from other disciplines to guide nursing research for PhD dissertations. What is wrong with this picture?"

I would suggest it is not 'big' - rich enough.

"What is the uniqueness of nursing as a discipline when medical science content has replaced the nursing theories and frameworks in PhD programs? The extant theories and frameworks concretized nursing as a unique discipline different from medicine in the 20^th century. Can nursing now be distinguished from medicine when the content of PhD programs is bereft of extant nursing theories and frameworks?"

Yes, nursing can and is being distinguished from medicine and all other disciplines: abstraction and scope of practice are key. 

So many 'literature searches' are incomplete (but I would say that).

It is actually a sad state of affairs should PhD programmes of study be the primary motivation for the development of nursing science. This is the 21st Century.

Nursing should be defined by the needs of national and global populations and associated national and global policy - especially ongoing gaps in those needs.

Call for Papers: The Science of Trust Initiative -

Building and Restoring Trust in Science and Health Information across Patient, Community and Population Settings

 

Message(s) to HIFA alerting to, and response to a Call for Papers:

 

----- Forwarded message -----

From: Neil Pakenham-Walsh <neil.pakenham-walsh@ghi-net.org>

To: HIFA - Healthcare Information For All <hifa@hifaforums.org>

Sent: Friday, 16 December 2022 at 12:11:19 GMT

Subject: [hifa] Call for papers: Building and restoring trust in science and health information across patient, community and population Settings

I am forwarding this from our colleagues at Infodemic Management News, WHO.

Opportunities for action Call for papers: Building and restoring trust in science and health information across patient, community and population Settings

The Journal of Communication in Healthcare: Strategies, Media, and Engagement in Global Health seeks to solicit diverse perspectives and build a robust evidence base for a special issue on trust and misinformation as part of the journal’s Science of Trust Initiative. This special issue will explore topics across different health communication areas aimed at addressing issues fuelled by misinformation such as mistrust, social discrimination, and pervasive stigma. There is specific interest in submissions related to the science of trust that focus on interdisciplinary collaborations to promote social, policy, and/or behavioral change, address key root causes of health inequities, and can help forge the path forward for building and fostering trust. A good opportunity to showcase your latest achievements or research in infodemic management!

To read the call for papers and submit, it’s here. The deadline is 26 February 2022.

Dr Neil Pakenham-Walsh, HIFA Coordinator Healthcare Information For All Global Healthcare Information Network Working in Official Relations with the World Health Organization 20,000 members, 400 supporting organisations, 180 countries, 6 forums, 4 languages www.hifa.org neil AT hifa.org

----- Forwarded message -----

From: Neil Pakenham-Walsh <neil.pakenham-walsh@ghi-net.org>

To: HIFA - Healthcare Information For All <hifa@hifaforums.org>

Sent: Friday, 30 December 2022 at 10:06:18 GMT

Subject: [hifa] Call for papers: Building and restoring trust in science and health information across patient, community and population settings (4)

Dear Najeeb, Meena and all,

Najeeb: "I think this is a golden opportunity for HIFA to publish an article (possibly written by a number of key people in HIFA) and provide a leading statement that emphasizes the role of communication (good quality information) in healthcare for all." https://www.hifa.org/dgroups-rss/call-papers-building-and-restoring-trust-science-and-health-information-across-patient

Meena: "Very nice idea Najeeb and happy to be part of this project." https://www.hifa.org/dgroups-rss/call-papers-building-and-restoring-trust-science-and-health-information-3-hifa-paper

Yes indeed, the call for papers is specifically about 'Building and restoring trust in science and health information'. HIFA is uniquely positioned to explore this issue through dynamic multidisciplinary discussion.

My initial thought is that this could be done within the framework of our current collaboration with WHO and specifically the consultation we are planning for 2023: 'To identify best practices, opportunities and challenges from relevant health related stakeholders, towards pursuing universal access to reliable healthcare information'. https://www.hifa.org/projects/hifa-who-collaboration-plan Lack of trust is a huge challenge and it requires engagement from all stakeholders.

I would like to invite HIFA members and supporting organisations to comment and suggest next steps.

Best wishes, Neil

Dr Neil Pakenham-Walsh

----- Forwarded message -----

From: Najeeb Al-Shorbaji, Jordan <shorbajin@gmail.com>

To: HIFA - Healthcare Information For All <hifa@hifaforums.org>

Sent: Saturday, 31 December 2022 at 22:12:50 GMT

Subject: [hifa] Call for papers: Building and restoring trust in science and health information across patient, community and population settings (5) HIFA-WHO Collaboration

Dear Neil and all members of HIFA family

Happy New Year. The suggestion to invite comments from HIFA members is a logical one and fully supported. HIFA current collaboration with WHO should really be highlighted in this piece especially that WHO and HIFA have both a mission to make high quality information available and accessible by the world. Good quality, timely and accurate health information provided to people is the best prevention, protection and leads to good treatment of diseases. Hopefully this will make heath goals much more attainable. Lets go for it friends.

With kind regards.

Najeeb Al-Shorbaji, PhD, IAHSI

... Website: www.shorbaji.net Director, Knowledge, Ethics and Research WHO/HQ (Retired) e-Marefa Advisor President, Jordan Library and Information Association President, eHealth Development Association, Jordan President, Middle East and North Africa Association of Health Informatics IMIA Vice-President for MEDINFO 2023 Visiting Professor, Ain Shams University, Egypt Member of the International Academy of Pubic Health Scientific Council ORCID ID 0000-0003-3843-8430

----- Forwarded message -----

From: Peter Jones, UK <hifa@hifaforums.org>

To: HIFA - Healthcare Information For All <hifa@hifaforums.org>

Sent: Sunday, 1 January 2023 at 15:45:42 GMT

Subject: [hifa] Call for papers: Building and restoring trust in science and health information across patient, community and population settings (6) Hodges' model and information disorder

As highlighted before on HIFA over many years, Hodges' model can inform such a call for papers and project.

In several ways, including but not limited to - critique and representation of data, information, knowledge, wisdom (literacies - across all academic and professional disciplines):

Jones, P. (1996) Humans, Information, and Science, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 24(3),591-598.
Jones, P. (1996) An overarching theory of health communication? Health Informatics Journal,2,1,28-34.

Additional citation: IRMS Bulletin - November 2022
https://hodges-model.blogspot.com/2022/12/irms-230-h2cm-literacies.htm

"I am indebted to Peter Jones, who shared Hodges’ Health Career Model with the 2022 IRMS conference in Glasgow. Although originally used in a healthcare setting, this simple, two-axis intellectual model can be readily used to analyse any complex interaction between the individual and their environment – in this case, information literacies.

The diagram shows a number of distinct yet overlapping literacies that were potentially in play in our problem example, although there are likely to be many more – even emotional literacy played a part, with the frustrations of the young people in question causing them to dismiss potential solutions before they had been tried or even considered. Likewise, socio-political and socio-economic literacies may have been a factor – if you are unaware that something exists in the world due to blind-spots in your own cultural background then you cannot even begin to look for it."

Jon Fryer, "Information Literacies - Learning, to thrive in a digital age". IRMS Bulletin, Issue 230, November 2022. cc c (A membership journal)

During the summer and the "Communicating health research" thread on HIFA, I thought about 'information disorder' and the infodemic:

https://rm.coe.int/information-disorder-toward-an-interdisciplinary-framework-for-researc/168076277c [*see note below] I recalled this quote too - amid 'information overload'.

“Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?” ― T.S. Eliot, The Rock

As the evidence-base 'accumulates' there may be a questions about the life-cycle of research?

From implementation science to deimplementation: Patey et al. Implementation Science (2018) 13:134 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13012-018-0826-6

As an 'ecosystem' is it imperative that one (or more) part of 'data, information KNOWLEDGE wisdom' must wither on the academic (vine) database - reduced citation hence salience?

The aims and scope of a paper may also encompass the public's understanding of science. Frameworks and models of care/selfcare are needed that can simultaneously:

"... differentiate between science writing for the public and writing across communities of scientific practice. Described by its editors as an interdisciplinary journal, they argue it is a ‘transdisciplinary journal’"

from -Baram-Tsabari, Ayelet, Orli Wolfson, Roy Yosef, Noam Chapnik, Adi Brill, and Elad Segev. Jargon Use in Public Understanding of Science Papers over Three Decades. Public Understanding of Science, 29(6) (August 2020): 644–54. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662520940501.

Hodges' model being situated can be used in contexts that are inter- multi- transdisciplinary and interprofessional (education).

If I can assist I'd be pleased to proof read, critique drafts, provide a figure / table using Hodges' model to illustrate the conceptual scope and associations of the work.

I may have also referred to agnotology - the study of ignorance, this should (must?) be a concurrent factor in research of literacy. If anyone has time to please read and comment on a near complete draft paper on: COVID-19, technology, society, Hodges' model, fake news misinformation dis- mal- also I'd be very grateful.

[ Since this message was posted to HIFA, I greatly appreciate an offer to read the draft, which should be complete mid-end of February ]

Happy New Year to all - wherever celebrated.

Peter Jones
Community Mental Health Nurse and Researcher
Warrington Recovery Team, NW England
http://twitter.com/h2cm

The call for papers link again:
https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issues/science-trust-initiative/?utm_source=TFO&utm_medium=cms&utm_campaign=JPG15743

[*Note from HIFA moderator (NPW): Many thanks Peter, this publication looks interesting. The first paragraph of the executive summary sets the scene: 'This report is an attempt to comprehensively examine information disorder and its related challenges, such as filter bubbles and echo chambers. While the historical impact of rumours and fabricated content have been well documented, we argue that contemporary social technology means that we are witnessing something new: information pollution at a global scale; a complex web of motivations for creating, disseminating and consuming these ‘polluted’ messages; a myriad of content types and techniques for amplifying content; innumerable platforms hosting and reproducing this content; and breakneck speeds of communication between trusted peers.' I have invited the authors to join us.]

Because we are (still) living in a post-Project 2000 World ...

Hodges' model #h2cm is history ...

Ack. Walsh, M. (1991). Models in clinical nursing: The way forward. London: Bailliere Tindall.

"The emphasis of Project 2000 on community care also has implications for curriculum design, since the way nursing is taught must at least in part be applicable to the non-hospital situation. p.144.

"The power and autonomy of nursing have been under continual attack since 1985 with the Griffiths Report and the introduction of general management." p.148.

"Models act as broad organizing concepts, as philosophies or frameworks of care, and in that sense operate at the large-scale or macro-theory level." p.149.

"Models, therefore, are essential in defining nursing. Only by saying that 'This is nursing' and that only a trained qualified nurse can do whatever nursing consists of will be able to hang on to the domain of nursing. Once that is lost an army of low-paid health care assistants (HCAs) acting as 'basic carers' and 'physician's assistants' can be employed to take over."  p.150.

Figure 1 (p.155)
Sorry about the image quality (will try again)
but hopefully the meaning is conveyed.

" ... we can say that at the macro level of theory different models place differing emphases on areas of the patient for the nurse to explore. Each model also has its own unique philosophy of care. At the micro level, nursing theory remains an independent body of knowledge, applicable under any model of nursing, but which may be implemented in different ways, subject to the approach of that model."
p.150.

"British nursing has been talking for too long about models; it is time to see whether they can be made to work!" p.152.

See Figure 1 - "Perhaps nursing models may be best thought of as subjective views of nursing which by virtue of widespread discussion become generally accepted by nurses, leading to a series of coherent frameworks which have consistent value systems applicable to the delivery of care." p.154.

"The Sir Humphreys of the nursing world are quick to point out that nobody has shown that implementing a model of nursing has improved nursing care. This is true, although nobody has shown that a model makes care any worse either!" p.153.

... it is now and the future too ... [PJ]

Walsh, M. (1991). Models in clinical nursing: The way forward. London: Bailliere Tindall.

Context:

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=nursing+project+2000

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humphrey_Appleby

Thomas Project. A Border Journal for Utopian Thoughts

Thomas Project. A Border Journal for Utopian Thoughts

Article submission date: 10^th May 2021

Issue: June / July 2021

Languages: english, portuguese, italian, french, spanish

Invited paper: Prof. dr. José Eduardo Franco

Throughout history, many utopian visions and theories have claimed to take a “global” or “universalist” approach, i.e. to speak for the whole of humankind. As such, utopian thought, like all spiritual, political and artistic configurations, is based on anthropological premises that are directly concerned with the worldview of an age – a worldview that some authors, many situated at the borders of their own age, consider worth pursuing for the sake of humankind as a whole.

The “global” scope of utopian visions gives rise to utopian plans that, if realized, could radically undermine the authors’ purposes, transforming the happy form of life they envisage into a totalitarian reality. Here we face the risk, run by many utopias, of creating dystopias.

Nevertheless, precisely through this approach, we find – within explicitly critical and satirical forms – a focus on the liberation of the weaker parts of society and an inclusive understanding of human problems. After all, political and spiritual movements – as well as many of the declarations on whose premises human rights are based, such as the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (1789) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) – are children of both the utopian spirit and the historical tragedies of their age.

Studying the universalistic focus of the history of utopia thus involves studying the many forms through which a society conceives of itself beyond itself, its boundaries and its weaknesses. In this sense, our globalized age is also a child of global, philosophical, political, spiritual and technological utopias.

One of the most recent fields of research in this area focuses on “globalization” as a key consequence of modernity. The last thirty years have witnessed a series of phenomena the rapidity and innovativeness of which are far from being completely understood: on the one hand, the incredible digital, technological acceleration of the past few decades and the transformation of the capitalistic economy; on the other hand, the apparent creation of a world characterized by forms of living and challenges that are increasingly common to the whole of humankind.

Globalization taken in itself and the global phenomena that characterize our contemporary civilization embody images from past global utopian endeavors while producing their own global utopian visions.

For this issue, we are seeking articles that examine this theme in general, and the following sub-themes in particular:

• forms and images of global utopia:
• contemporary global utopias;
• global utopias throughout modern utopian thought;
• globalization as utopia and dystopia;
• the forms and history of the global city.

We welcome submissions that take a philosophical, literary, artistic, theological or political approach and that are written in one of the journal’s five languages: English, Italian, Portuguese, French or Spanish.

Editorial rules: here

For the full CfA, please follow this link: http://www.thomasproject.net/global-utopias/

Send your article to: redazionethomasproject AT gmail.com

My source:

Philos-L "The Liverpool List" is run by the Department of Philosophy, University of Liverpool 

https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/philosophy/philos-l/

A Universal Language needs a Universal Framework ...

and so does ...

Integrated Care

Psychotherapy 

Universal Health Coverage

Global Health

Planetary Health ...


individual

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INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

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group - population

Journal of Universal Language	Journal of Universal Language
Journal of Universal Language	Journal of Universal Language

The LONG Now - in Research

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group - population

	500-Year Microbiology Experiment
Broadbalk Winter Wheat Experiment*

*I have placed Broadbalk here as agriculture was a key driver for social and community development.

See also:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/7/130719-tar-pitch-longest-running-experiments-science/

Good genes are nice, but joy is better, The Harvard Gazette.
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/04/over-nearly-80-years-harvard-study-has-been-showing-how-to-live-a-healthy-and-happy-life/

World's largest evidence review: Nutritional supplements for mental health
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-09/nhri-wle090619.php

The Long Now Foundation
http://longnow.org/clock/


My source:
Whipple, T. (2019) News, Bacteria study has just 495 years to go, The Times, February 2, p.37.

Trauma: A definition c/o @fomsf_UWE

Dr Rajwani on the refugee crisis: a trauma narrative. #SoGlo #SoGlo2018 #medicine #war #msf #globalhealth #notatarget pic.twitter.com/JcuLhuxASg

— UWE Friends of MSF (@fomsf_uwe) February 24, 2018

Resized image @fomsf_uwe

Trauma "a universal aspect of human experience in which individuals and groups have to undergo or bear certain burdens, troubles and serious wounds to the body and spirit". p.205.

INDIVIDUAL

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES         

humanistic -- UNIVERSAL HUMAN EXPERIENCE -- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

GROUP

SPIRIT burdens troubles	BODY serious wounds
(ethnography, multicultural practice)	(refugees, mental health providers)

Elzbieta M. Gozdziak (2004) Training Refugee Mental Health Providers: Ethnography as a Bridge to Multicultural Practice. Human Organization: Summer 2004, Vol. 63, No. 2, pp. 203-210.

More SF (speculations on person-centred care...?)

I've been reading a bit more SF - this time Joe Haldeman's, The Forever War here's a fascinating excerpt:

I went to the phone in the kitchen and with some difficulty managed to get through to the hospital. A plain girl in her twenties formed in the cube. "Nurse Donalson, general services." She had a fixed smile, professional sincerity. But then everybody smiled.
"My mother needs to be looked at by a doctor. She has a --"
"Name and number, please."
"Beth Mandella." I spelled it.
"What number?"
"Medical services number, of course," she smiled.
I called into Mom and asked her what her number was.
"She says she can't remember."
"That's alright, sir, I'm sure I can find her records."
She turned her smile to a keyboard beside her and punched out a code.
"Beth Mandella?" she said, her smile turning quizzical.
"You're her son? She must be in her eighties."
"Please. It's a long story. She really has to see a doctor."
"Is this some kind of joke?"
"What do you mean?" Strangled coughing from the other room, the worse yet. "Really -- this might be very serious, you've got to--"
"But sir, Mrs. Mandella got a zero priority rating way back in 2010. "
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"S-i-r . . ." The smile was hardening in place.
"Look. Pretend I come from another planet. What is a 'zero priority rating'?"
"Another -- oh I know you!" She looked off to the left.
"Sonya -- come over here a second. You'd never guess who .." Another face crowded the cube, a vapid blonde girl who smile was twin to the other nurse's. "Remember? On the stat this morning?"
"Oh, yeah," she said. "One of the soldiers -- hey, that's really max, really max." The head withdrew.
"Oh, Mr Mandella," she said, effusive. "No wonder you're confused. It's really very simple."
"Well?"
"It's part of the Universal Medical Security System. Everybody gets a rating on their seventieth birthday. It comes in automatically from Geneva."
"What does it rate? What does it mean?" But the ugly truth was obvious.
"Well, it tells how important a person is and what level of treatment he's allowed. Class three is the same as anybody else's; class two is the same except for certain life-extending--"
"And class zero is no treatment at all."
"That's correct, Mr Mandella." And in her smile was not a glimmer of pity or understanding.
"Thank you." I disconnected. Marygay was standing behind me, crying soundlessly with her mouth wide open. ...

Joe Haldeman, The Forever War, Gollancz, SF Masterworks, pp.148-149.

Link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Forever_War