Theorising clinical nursing healthcare practice: a professional and disciplinary challenge

Abstract

The principal authorities on nursing claim that the present and future challenge for the discipline and the profession is the use of theory, linked to scientific research, in order to improve healthcare practice. Such an assertion invites reflection on both the clinical practice of nursing professionals and the theory behind the care they provide. In order to understand the key to generating a body of solid scientific knowledge as the vital link between theory and practice in clinical nursing healthcare, it is useful to contextualise the care provided and the functions performed by the discipline of nursing as a science and a profession within society. Methods for developing the knowledge which guides clinical nursing practice, and patient-centred use of such knowledge, are currently the subject of debate.

Keywords

• Teoría en enfermería
• Método científico
• Práctica clínica