conservation principles of nursing, a conceptual framework for nursing, created by Myra Estrine Levine, that is directed at maintaining the wholeness or integrity of the patient when the normal ability to cope is disturbed by stress. Nursing intervention is determined by the patient’s need to conserve energy and to maintain structural, personal, and social integrity. The patient is perceived as a person whose wholeness is threatened by stress. Subjective and objective indicators of stress are assessed by the nurse, the stimuli for the stress are identified, and the level of integrity in each area is evaluated. The nurse acts as a “conservationist.” The goal of the Four Conservation Principles of Nursing is to promote adaptation and maintain wholeness by using the principles of conservation. The model guides the nurse in focusing on the influences and responses at the organismic level.
