Clancy John, McVicar Andrew
School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of East Anglia.
Br J Nurs. 2011;20(5):299-305. doi: 10.12968/bjon.2011.20.5.299.
The role of healthcare practitioners in reversing homeostatic imbalances essentially makes them external agents of homeostatic control-they are replacing the usual assessment, controlling and effector aspects that operate intrinsically in health (homeostasis) but have failed in ill-health (homeostatic imbalances). This article examines the homeostatic imbalance of hypothyroidism, using a case study to draw analogies between the components of homeostatic theory and those of the nursing process. After reading this article, nurses should be able to explain: how the components of homeostasis are associated with health, and how failure of one or more of these components of homeostasis is associated with illness; that illness arises from a cellular, and therefore chemical, homeostatic imbalance; that hypothyroidism is a cellular imbalance of low levels of thyroid hormone, which is identified by signs and symptoms (i.e. other homeostatic imbalances) related to these low levels; and understand how primary care nurses looking after people with hypothyroidism are acting as external agents of homeostatic control.
医疗从业者在逆转体内平衡失衡方面所起的作用，本质上使他们成为体内平衡控制的外部因素——他们正在取代那些在健康状态（体内平衡）下内在发挥作用，但在疾病状态（体内平衡失衡）下失效的常规评估、控制和效应方面。本文通过一个案例研究来探讨甲状腺功能减退的体内平衡失衡，以类比体内平衡理论的组成部分与护理过程的组成部分。阅读本文后，护士应能够解释：体内平衡的组成部分如何与健康相关，以及这些体内平衡组成部分中的一个或多个失效如何与疾病相关；疾病源于细胞层面，进而源于化学层面的体内平衡失衡；甲状腺功能减退是甲状腺激素水平低的细胞失衡，可通过与这些低水平相关的体征和症状（即其他体内平衡失衡）来识别；并理解照顾甲状腺功能减退患者的初级护理护士如何作为体内平衡控制的外部因素发挥作用。
