Physiology and Pharmacology for Nursing Practice

Section one

Homeostasis, which literally means ‘same standing’ from the Greek words for "same" and "steady," refers to any process that living things use to actively maintain fairly stable conditions necessary for survival (Clancy et al., 2011). It is a term introduced by Cannon in 1930 to describe the goal of all the body’s physiological processes. These processes dynamically maintain a relatively constant state called steady-state in the internal environment (CREDO, 2006). The internal environment is the fluid that surrounds cells, which refers to the direct cell survival and material exchange with the environment. The processes maintain the internal environment steady levels of temperature and other vital conditions such as the water, salt, sugar, protein, fat, calcium and oxygen contents of the blood by many systems operating together (Rodolfo, 2013). When the body cannot maintain homeostasis, cells cannot carry out their normal functions, which include considerable adverse effects, such as cellular rupture. Those who are not in Homeostasis are often accompanied by sickness (Silverthorn, 2009 and Kelly, 2004).

Because of the constantly changing environment of the body, adjustments must be made continuously to maintain the internal environment within the set point limit by a variety of homeostatic mechanisms. Therefore, Homeostasis can be considered as synthetic equilibrium, which means constant monitoring to achieve internal balance (Marieb, 2012).

To maintain homeostasis in the body, it requires all the body systems work together, while the nervous and endocrine systems play the most important role. The nervous system reacts quickly to external and internal stimuli, whereas the endocrine system is slower to act but its effe...

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