ehavior. Living systems can and do operate at varying levels of effectiveness and efficiency, but, to be able to operate at all, some minimum level of balance, both internally and externally, must be maintained. A behavioral system possess sufficient flexibility to react effectively to usual variations in the forces acting upon it, and it possess sufficient stress tolerance to permit effective adjustment to many extreme variations in these forces.
Johnson incorporated into her model the Nightingale concept that nursing's primary concern is the patient, as opposed to the afflicting disease or condition (Fawcett, 1989, pp. 65 76). The patient may be an individual, or, in family centered nursing, the patient may be a family. Extending this concept, Johnson conceived the role of patient centered nursing as the fostering
of efficient and effective behavioral functioning in the patient to prevent illness and during and following illness. This concept led Johnson to view the patient, per se, as a behavioral system (
...