THEORIST BACKGROUND STUDY

THEORIST BACKGROUND STUDY OF NOVICE-EXPERT THEORY

More than 30 years ago, Benner began what she describes as an articulation project of the knowledge embedded in nursing practice. Her initial thrust toward further understanding of the theory/practice gap in nursing became transformed while conducting the Achieving Methods of Intra-Professional Consensus, Assessment and Evaluation (AMICAE) project, which provided the data for the widely acclaimed book From Novice to Expert: Excellence and Power in Clinical Nursing Practice, abbreviated FNE. Profound exemplars of nursing practices were uncovered from observations and interviews with clinical nurses during this project that demonstrated that clinical nursing practice was more complex than theories of nursing could describe, explain, or predict. This constituted a paradigm shift in nursing by demonstrating that knowledge can be developed in practice, not just applied, and signifying that practice is a way of knowing in its own right.

Two direct outcomes of the AMICAE research project were (1) validation and interpretation of the Dreyfus model of skill acquisition for nurses and (2) description of the domains and competencies of nursing practice. Benner’s ongoing research studies have continued the development of these two components that have been applied extensively in clinical practice development models (CPDMs) for nursing staff in hospitals around the world.

These findings have also been used for preceptorship programs, symposia on nursing excellence and competency validation in maternal and child community health nursing.

The books FNE, Expertise in Clinical Nursing Practice, and Clinical Wisdom and Interventions in Critical Care report studies of skill development in nursing and research-based interpretations of the nature of clinical nursing knowledge. The ongoing development of interpretive phenomenology as a narrative qualitative research method is described and illustrated in each of Benner’s knowledge development publications. The growing body of research that this work has generated is highlighted in the books Interpretive Phenomenology: Embodiment, Caring, and Ethics in Health and Illness and Interpretive Phenomenology in Health Care Research. Interpretive phenomenology is both a philosophy and a qualitative research methodology. Benner and colleagues delineate the historical background, philosophical foundations, and methodological processes of interpretive phenomenological research and examine caring practices and aspects of the moral dimensions of caring for and living with both health and illness