title: Nursing theories as nursing ontologies.
abstract: By understanding the constructions of knowledge we currently label nursing theories as nursing ontologies, nurses can perceive these conceptualizations differently. Paul Ricoeur and Stephen White offer a conceptualization of ontology that differs from traditional, realist perspectives because they assume that a person's experience of a phenomenon (e.g., nursing) will change, but also maintain some stability. Discussing nursing ontologies, rather than nursing theories, might increase philosophy's status in nursing and may also more accurately reflect the experience of being a nurse.
authors.affiliation: Medicine Hat College, 299 College Drive SE, Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada T1A 3Y6. dflaming@mhc.ab.ca
authors.forename: Don
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Flaming
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D009742:Nursing Theory