The fundamentals of care: A framework and a practice process for addressing the physical, psychosocial, and relational needs of individuals receiving care

Since 2008, an international group has been helping to promote a better response to the fundamental needs of individuals receiving care. This group provides a framework on the fundamentals of care that focuses on the relationship between the nurse, the individual being cared for, and his or her relatives, as well as on the response to the patient’s physical, psychosocial, and relational needs. A practice process supports the concrete application of this framework. The purpose of this discursive article is to present the French translation of the Fundamentals of Care Framework and its Practice Process. To begin with, the translation process will be briefly explained. Next, the Fundamentals of Care Framework and the stages in its Practice Process will be presented. To help the reader better understand the proposal, a clinical illustration will be used to present the situation of Mr. Perron, who is living with Alzheimer’s disease, and his spouse, who is his family caregiver. Finally, the article discusses the usefulness of the Fundamentals of Care Framework and its Practice Process in terms of the four main areas of the discipline of nursing: practice, management, training, and research. This article paves the way for the development of knowledge on the fundamentals of care in the French-speaking world.