title: Nurses' understanding of physical science in nursing practice.
abstract: When science educators teach nurses, their primary aim should be to help them to develop understanding of their world of nursing. From a study of registered nurses' conceptions of the physical science underlying their clinical practice, we assert that nurses' understanding of the physical sciences is inadequate in terms of the competencies required of them as nurses. Rather than respond to this contention by altering the content of physical science units in nursing courses, we propose that those who teach nurse students should look more carefully at factors that influence nurses' learning: these factors are images of nursing, shared experience and shared language. We maintain that these factors should not be ignored but can be used to advantage in teaching science to nurses.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Nursing Research Unit, University of Western Sydney, Nepean Hospital, Penrith NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Wilkes
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Batts
mesh_terms: D003479:Curriculum; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate / Q000379:methods*; D004521:Educational Measurement; D006801:Humans; D010811:Natural Science Disciplines / Q000193:education*; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires