1. FLORA
QUESTION 4
What is McGill Model of Nursing Practice?
The McGill Model of Nursing Practice was first outlined by A
Canadian Nurse Educator and Health Scientist named Moyra Allen
(1921-1996). For most of her career, she held a faculty
appointment in the school of Nursing at McGill University. Then
in the mdi 70’s Allen outlined a conceptual model of the approach
to nursing espoused by McGill Faculty of Nursing and launched a
broad program of research to accumulate knowledge about Nursing
contribution in relation to health outcomes. This framework
according to Kravitz and Frey 1989 p 313 provides a pragmatic
organizing plan to explore, describe, and evaluate the full function
of nursing: direct the development of nursing curricula and
generate questions for research in nursing practice and health care.
Over the years of its’ formulation, the model was given different
names of which McGill Model of Nursing became the most

2. familiar. Allen however was eager to find an appropriate
conceptual title. In 1985 she chose “ A developmental Health
Model Nursing as a Continuous Inquiry” to reflect the model’s
developmental perspective on health and nursing. Since then
McGill Model of Nursing has been used by various scientists to
investigate nursing practices in working with families.
What really is McGill Model Of Nursing?
McGill model of Nursing according to Gotlieb&Rowat 1987, the
salient features of this model are health, family, collaboration and
learning within the health, person, environment and nursing
paradigm. The central goal of nursing according to this paradigm is
to maintain, strengthen, and develop the patient’s health by
actively engaging him or her in a learning process. Because health
is a learned phenomenon and the family is considered the primary
socializer in this learning, the family is the focus of nursing. The
nurse strives to structure a learning environment that enables the
patient to participate as fully as possible. The nurse and patient

3. together set goals and, building on the patient’s strength and
resources, devise means of achieving them.
How does the McGill Model apply to Megan’s situation?
Because this model considers the environment, health,
learning, strengths of the family, etc. In Megan’s situation, we
can see various challenges faced by Megan and her Mother, a
recent divorce, which has weakened the family strength, a
move from a rural area to the city for a new start which is
applicable to Megan and her Mother who have moved from the
rural area to the city for a new start. This change of
environment for Megan and her mother may be stressful
because it involves acquiring new tools in order to adjust into a
new environment. The need for a new day care and accessing
other resources requires learning ways of accessing these
information . The McGill paradigm fits very well into Megan’s
situation.
Why is the McGill model important?
The model is important because of the following reasons:

4. 1. The theory focuses on the family and its dynamics
2. The theory is important because it influences a nurses
thinking in utilizing nursing practice/process.
3. It allows nurses to gather data, critically think and formulate
researchable questions; analyze the data collected, draw
conclusions and make appropriate recommendations and
implement appropriate interventions when working with
families.
4. It allows nurses to implement appropriate strategies and to
evaluate the outcomes.
5. The paradigm helps nurses to identify the strengths and
resources that are available in the community

5. REFERENCES
Kravitz, M., & Frey, M.A. (1989) The Allen nursing model.
In J.J. Fitzpatrick & A.L. Whall (Eds), Conceptual Models of
Nursing: Analysis and Application (pp.313-329). Norwalk,
CT: Application & Lange.
Gotlieb, L., &Rowat, K. (1987). The McGill Model Of
Nursing: A practice derived model. Advances in Nursing
Science ( 4), (4), 51-61