Ernestine Wiedenbach (August 18, 1900 in Hamburg, Germany – March 8, 1998) was a nursing theorist.

from Teachers College, Columbia University in 1934, and a certificate in nurse-midwifery from the Maternity Center Association School for Nurse-Midwives in New York in 1946.

Wiedenbach taught there until 1951, and in 1952, joined the Yale University faculty as an instructor in maternity nursing.

She was named an assistant professor of obstetric nursing in 1954 and an associate professor in 1956 when the Yale School of Nursing established a master's degree program under which she directed the major in maternal and newborn health nursing.

The prescriptive theory has three factors: There are three components for nursing philosophy: The prescription: Actions appropriate to implement a plan to carry out the actions following the central purpose.