Nursing is art and science both. Nursing is healthcare profession which focused on the care of all type of patient worldwide such as individual, families and communities. Its involves the combination of skills and scientific knowledge to help individual, families and communities to assess, diagnose and treat their health condition and also promotion health awareness to prevent illness.
Nursing as a profession.
In the past, there has been considerable discussion about whether nursing is profession or an occupation. This is important for nurses to consider for several reasons. An occupation is a job or a career, where as a profession is a learned vocation or occupation that has a status of superiority and precedence with in a division of work. In general term, occupations require widely varying level of training or education, varying level of skills, and widely variable defined knowledge bases. In short, all profession is occupation, but not all occupation is profession (finkelman & kenner 2013).
Profession are valued by society because the services professional provides are beneficial for members of the society. Characteristics of a profession include:
Defined and specialized knowledge base
- Control and authority over training and education
- Credentialing system or registration to ensure competence
- Altruistic services to society
- A code of ethics
- Formal training with in institutions of higher education
- Lengthy socialization to the profession
- Autonomy (control of professional activates). (Ellis & Hartly, 2012, finkelman & kenner, 2013; Rutty 1998).
Professions must have a group of scholars, investigator, or researcher who work to continually advance the knowledge of the profession with the goal of improving practice (schlotfeldt, 1989).
Finally, professional are responsible and accountable to the public for their work (Hood, 2010). Traditionally, profession have included the clergy, law, and medicine.
Until near the end of the 20th century, nursing was viewed as an occupation rather than a profession. Healthcare has difficulty being deemed a profession because many of the services provided by nurses have been perceived as an extension of those offer by wives and mothers.
Additionally, historically, nursing has been seen as sub servant of medicine, and nurses have delayed in identifying and organizing professional knowledge. Furthermore, education for nurses is not yet standardized, and the three tier entry level system (diploma, associate degree, and bachelor degree) into practice that persists has hindered professionalization because a college education is not yet a requirement. Finally, autonomy in practice is incomplete because of healthcare is still dependent on medicine to direct much of its practice.
On the other hand, many of the characteristics of a profession can be observed in nursing. Indeed, nursing has a social mandate to provide health care for clients at different points in the health-illness continuum. There is a growing knowledge base, authority over education, altruistic services, a code of ethics, and registration requirement for practice. Although the debate is ongoing, it can be successfully argued that nursing is an aspiring, evolving profession.
The future of nursing
The institute of medicine (IOM 2011) recently issued a series of sweeping recommendations directed to the nursing profession. The IOM explained their “vision” is to make quality, patient centered care accessible for all Americans. Recommendations included a three pronged approach to meeting the goals.
The first “message” was directed towards transformation of practices and precipitated the notion that nurses should be able to practice to the full extent of their education. Indeed, the IOM advocated for removal of regulatory body, policy, and financial barriers to practice to ensure that “current and future generations of nurse can deliver safe, quality, patient centered care across all settings, especially in such area as primary care and community and public health”
A second key message related to the transformation of nursing education. In this regards, the IOM promote “seamless academic progression”, which includes a goal to increase the number and percentage of nurses who enter the workforce with a baccalaureate degree or who progress to the degree early in their carrier. Specifically, the recommend that 80% of RNs be BSN prepared by 2020. Last, the IOM advocated that nurses be full partners with physicians and other health professional in the attempt to redesign health care in the united states.
These “messages” are critical to the future of nursing as a profession. Indeed, standardization of entry level into practice at the BSN level, coupled with promotion of advanced education and independent practice, and inclusion as “leaders” in the health care transformation process, will help solidify nursing as a true profession.
Nursing as an Academic Discipline
Discipline are distinctions between bodies of knowledge found in academic settings.
A discipline is “ a branch of knowledge ordered through the theories and methods evolving from more than one worldwide of the phenomenon of concern” ( parse, 1997). It has also been termed a field of inquiry characterized by a unique perspective and distinct way of viewing phenomena ( Butts, Rich & Fawcett, 2012).
Viewed another way a discipline is a branch of educational instruction or a department of learning or knowledge. Institutions of higher education are organized around disciplines into colleges , schools, and departments ( e.g business administration, chemistry and engineering).
Discipline are organized by structure and tradition. The structure of the discipline provides organization and determines the amount, relationship, and ratio of each type of knowledge that comprises the discipline. The tradition of the discipline include;
- A distinct perspective and syntax
- Determination of what methods of study are used
- Determination of what phenomena are of interest
- Determination of the context in which the phenomena are viewed
- Determination of what questions to ask
- Determination of what evidence id proof
Knowledge development with in a discipline proceeds from several philosophical and scientific perspective or worldviews. In some cases, these worldviews may serve to divide or segregate members of a discipline. For example, in psychology, practitioners might consider themselves behaviorists, Freudians, or any one of a number of other divisions.
Several ways of classifying academic discipline have been proposed. For instance, they may be divided into the basic sciences (physics, chemistry biology, sociology, anthropology) and the humanities (philosophy, ethics, history, fine arts). In this classification scheme, it is arguable that nursing has characteristics of both.
Distinctions may also be made between academic disciplines (e.g., physics, physiology, sociology, mathematics, history, philosophy) and professional disciplines (e.g., medicine, law, nursing, social work). In this classification scheme, the academic disciplines are both basic and applied. Conversely, the professional disciplines are practical in nature, and their research tends to be more prescriptive and descriptive.
Nursing knowledge base draws from many disciplines. In the past, heatcare depended heavily on physiology, sociology, psychology and medicine to provide academic standing and to inform practice. In recent decades, however, nursing has been seeking what is unique to nursing developing those aspects into an academic discipline.
Area that identify nursing as a distinct discipline are as follows;
- An identifiable philosophy
- At least one conceptual framework (perspective) for delineation of what can be defined as nursing
- Acceptable methodologic approaches for the pursuit and development of knowledge
Nursing and empiricism
As an emerging discipline, nursing has followed established disciplines (e.g., physiology) and the medicine model in stressing logical positivism. Early nurse scientist embraces the importance of objectivity, control, fact, and measurement of smaller and smaller parts. Based on this influence, acceptable method for knowledge generation in nursing have stressed traditional, orthodox and preferably experimental methods.
Although positivism continues to heavily influence nursing science, that view point has been challenged in recent years. Consequently, postpositivism has becomes one of the most accepted contemporary worldviews in nursing.
Nursing and phenomenology/ constructivism/ historicism
Because they examine phenomena with in context, phenomenology, as well as other perceived views of philosophy, are conductive to discovery and knowledge development inherent to nursing. Phenomenology is open, variable, and relativistic and based on human experience and personal interpretations. As such, it is important, guiding paradigm for nursing practice theory and education.
In nursing science, the dichotomy of philosophic thought between the received, empirical view of science and the perceived, interpretative view of science has persisted. This may have resulted, in part, because nursing draws heavily both from natural sciences (physiology, biology) and social sciences (psychology, sociology).
Nursing and postmodernism
Postmodernism has been described as a dominant scientific theoretical paradigm in nursing in the late 20th century. As the discipline matures, there has been recognition of the pluralistic nature and an enhanced understanding that the goal of research is to provide an integrative basis for nursing care.
In terms of scientific methodology, the attention in increasingly on combination multiple methods with in single research project. Postmodernism has helped dislodged the authority of a single research paradigm in nursing science by emphasizing the blending or integration of qualitative and quantitative research into a holistic, dynamic model to improve nursing practice.
Nursing Philosophy, Nursing Science, and Philosophy of Science in Nursing
Nursing Philosophy
Nursing philosophy has been described as “a statement of foundational and universal assumptions, beliefs and principles about the nature of knowledge and thought (epistemology) and about the nature of the entities represented in the metaparadigm (i.e., healthcare practice and human health processes [ontology])”. Nursing philosophy, then, refers to the belief system or worldview of the profession and provides perspectives for practice, scholarship, and research.
No single dominant philosophy has prevailed in the discipline of healthcare. Many nursing scholars and nursing theorists have written extensively in an attempt to identify the overriding belief system, but to date, none has been universally successful. Most would agree then that nursing is increasingly recognized as a “multiparadigm discipline”, in which using multiple perspectives or worldviews in a “unified” way is valuable and even necessary for knowledge development.
Nursing Science
healthcare science as “the substantive, discipline-specific knowledge that focuses on the human-universe-health process articulated in the nursing frameworks and theories”. To develop and apply the discipline-specific knowledge, nursing science recognizes the relationships of human responses in health and illness and addresses biologic, behavioral, social, and cultural domains. The goal of nursing science is to represent the nature of nursing to understand it, to explain it, and to use it for the benefit of humankind. It is nursing science that gives direction to the future generation of substantive healthcare knowledge, and it is nursing science that provides the knowledge for all aspects of nursing.
Philosophy of Science in Nursing
Philosophy of science in nursing helps to establish the meaning of science through an understanding and examination of nursing concepts, theories, laws, and aims as they relate to nursing practice. It seeks to understand truth; to describe nursing; to examine prediction and causality; to critically relate theories, models, and scientific systems; and to explore determinism and free will.
Ways of Knowing in Nursing
For decades, the importance of the multiple ways of knowing has been recognized in the discipline of nursing. If nursing is to achieve a true integration between theory, research, and practice, theory development and research must integrate different sources of knowledge. Kidd and Morrison (1988) state that in nursing, synthesis of theories derived from different sources of knowledge will
1. Encourage the use of different types of knowledge in practice, education, theory development, and research
2. Encourage the use of different methodologies in practice and research
3. Make nursing education more relevant for nurses with different educational backgrounds
4. Accommodate nurses at different levels of clinical competence
5. Ultimately promote high-quality client care and client satisfaction
Nursing as a Practice Science
In early years, the debate focused on whether nursing was a basic science or an applied science. The goal of basic science is the attainment of knowledge. In basic research, the investigator is interested in understanding the problem and produces knowledge for knowledge’s sake. It is analytical and the ultimate function is to analyze a conclusion backward to its proper principles.
Conversely, an applied science is one that uses the knowledge of basic sciences for some practical end. Engineering, architecture, and pharmacology are examples. In applied research, the investigator works toward solving problems and producing solutions for the problem. In practice sciences, research is largely clinical and action oriented (Moody, 1990).
Thus, as an applied or practical science, nursing requires research that is applied and clinical and that generates and tests theories related to health of human beings within their environments as well as the actions and processes used by nurses in practice.
Nursing as a Human Science
The term human science is traced to philosopher Wilhelm Dilthey (1833–1911). Dilthey proposed that the human sciences require concepts, methods, and theories that are fundamentally different from those of the natural sciences.
Human sciences study human life by valuing the lived experience of persons and seek to understand life in its matrix of patterns of meaning and values. Some scholars believe that there is a need to approach human sciences differently from conventional empiricism and contend that human experience must be understood in context (Cody & Mitchell, 2002; Mitchell & Cody, 1992).
n human sciences, scientists hope to create new knowledge to provide understanding and interpretation of phenomena. In human sciences, knowledge takes the form of descriptive theories regarding the structures, processes, relationships, and traditions that underlie psychological, social, and cultural aspects of reality. Data are interpreted within context to derive meaning and understanding. Humanistic scientists value the subjective component of knowledge.
They recognize that humans are not capable of total objectivity and embrace the idea of subjectivity (Streubert & Carpenter, 2011). The purpose of research in human science is to produce descriptions and interpretations to help understand the nature of human experience.
Nursing is sometimes referred to as a human science (Cody & Mitchell, 2002; Mitchell & Cody, 1992). Indeed, the discipline has examined issues related to behavior and culture, as well as biology and physiology, and sought to recognize associations among factors that suggest explanatory variables for human health and illness. Thus, it fits the pattern of other humanistic sciences (i.e., anthropology, sociology).
Conclusion
Nursing is an evolving profession, an academic discipline, and a science. As nursing progresses and grows as a profession, some controversy remains on whether to emphasize a humanistic, holistic focus or an objective, scientifically derived means of comprehending reality. What is needed, and is increasingly more evident as nursing matures as a profession, is an open philosophy that ties empirical concepts that are capable of being validated through the senses with theoretical concepts of meaning and value.
Top 11 Types of Nurses That Pay a lot of Money in 2025. It is important that future nursing leaders and novice nurse scientists possess an understanding of nursing’s philosophical foundations. The legacy of philosophical positivism continues to drive beliefs in the scientific method and research strategies, but it is time to move forward to face the challenges of the increasingly complex and volatile health care environment.
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