title: Scholarship of practice for a practice profession.
abstract: At a time of shrinking resources, rapidly changing health care environments, and increased demands for solutions to pressing health issues, concerns regarding the relevance of nursing research for practice are again being raised. After the national debate surrounding definitions of scholarship across disciplines and having established respectability for past and current contributions to knowledge development, nursing may now begin to reconceptualize what constitutes scholarship in a practice profession. This article addresses two central questions related to the scholarship of nursing practice: (1) How is scholarship of practice in a practice of profession defined? and (2) What characteristics differentiate the new conceptualizations of scholarship of practice from traditional research models? The results include a delineation of scholarship of practice and a differentiation of characteristics between scholarship of practice and traditional research approaches. Implications for nursing education are also addressed.
authors.affiliation: University of Illinois, College of Nursing, Urbana Regional Program, 408 S. Goodwin Ave, Urbana, IL 61801, USA. sburgener@uiuc.edu
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Burgener
mesh_terms: D015400:Clinical Nursing Research / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D005257:Fellowships and Scholarships / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D016294:Models, Nursing; D020380:Needs Assessment; D017009:Professional Autonomy; D011361:Professional Competence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results