Nursing practice. Developing a philosophy.
The application of nursing models has been a recent theme in British nursing. Part of this process is the development of a nursing philosophy which underpins the model. Nurses at clinical level are often required to define their philosophy to meet clinical, educational and managerial objectives. The first part of this two-part article explores the significance of nursing philosophy to practice. In the second part, a case study is used to illustrate how clinical nurses can set about defining a philosophy of nursing for themselves. Dickoff et al (1) indicate that a philosophy is significant in the generation of theory. By identifying the nature of practice, theoretical relationships become apparent. It is also significant as Johnson (2) states in nursing's development as a profession. Johnson further asserts that nurses should use their beliefs to build a conceptual system of the person to be served and an abstract model for practice which allows such purpose to be fulfilled. However a nurse's beliefs and values about nursing may have no theoretical substance to them. They may be purely intuitive in nature. Writing a philosophy legitimates intuition. Kitson (3) considers that nurse theorists who believe that only developing a knowledge base through a scientific approach are at risk of throwing away the intuitive sources of knowledge within nursing. Yet gut reactions have been shown to be critical in the development of excellence in nursing (4). Kitson believes that intuitions can lead to developing 'grassroots standards of care' and a clearer definition of what nursing is.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009732:Nursing Care; D010687:Philosophy, Nursing