Lydia Hall

Lydia Hall’s theory of core, cure, and care theory can be easily integrated into practice. The core aspect of her theory describes the person that nursing care is directed towards and the individuals behavior due to their feelings and value system. The cure component is the attention given to patients by medical professions. These include interventions or actions that can be used to treat or cure the illness or disease that the individual may be suffering from. The last element, care, is about nurturing the patient and providing comfort measures. This also includes providing patient teaching.
An example used to integrate Lydia Hall’s theory will be a patient that has just found out that he has diabetes type 1. The patient may first be overwhelmed at the thought of managing the disease, fear of being alone and fear of the disease in itself which describes the core aspect of the theory. In the cure component the actions that nurses may take is to perform physical assessments including glucose level, assess respirations for Kussmaul respirations and acetonic breath, monitor temperature, moisture, weight, assess diet compliance, and intake and output.
The interventions nurses can provide the patient is to maintain fluid intake at least 2500 ml per day to prevent dehydration. Also, a comfortable environment should be provided and inform of covering at night with a light sheet which would prevent overheating and excessive fluid loss. Lastly, the element of care provides the patient with education and discharge planning such as teaching of how to give insulin, checking blood sugar, exercise rules and dietary changes.

Open communication assists the patient in being comfortable in asking questions and expressing fears of disease management, emotional and or social issues due to lifestyle changes. Lydia Hall’s Care Cure Core model suggests that patients have three needs of care: the physical, the medical, and the social needs. This encourages open communication between patients and nurses. Nurses responsibility when using this model is to provide physical, emotional or social support, educating patients and through medical management
Patient outcomes would be improved self esteem including confidence and motivation in managing their disease such as in diabetes self injection of insulin. Patients would also be more knowledgeable in the disease process such as importance of checking blood sugar and identifying symptoms of hypo and hyperglycemia. This model helps build rapport between the patient and nurse by assisting them to communicate their concerns and apprehensions pertaining to disease management.