Discipline of Nursing Essay

Concepts Central to the Discipline of Nursing
In order to critically examine the concepts central to the discipline of nursing it is important to clarify my understanding of what constitutes a discipline. Nursing literature has led me to understand that a discipline can be, in simple terms, thought of as a field of study with a unique perspective which gives rise to the nature and scope of inquiry of that field and therefore leads to a specialized body of knowledge (Parker, M & Smith, M, 2010). In attempt to cement nursing’s place in the professional world and in an effort to distinguish it from other disciplines it seems imperative that nursing itself agree on the discipline’s most significant concepts.Discipline of Nursing Essay

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Nursing as a discipline has set forward an explicit desire to serve the public and it is the service and commitment to the individual and overall wellbeing of our society that drives and directs the study and practice of nurses, educators and nurse scholars (Smith & Parker, 2010). By outlining the focus and boundaries of the discipline nursing is able to highlight areas of study that are significant to nursing education and practice, all of which can be traced back to the fundamental concepts. These central ideas feature as integral to nursing development and continue to demonstrate their influence by shaping the way nurses learn and do. The concepts of person, health, environment and nursing are all interrelated, as are the concepts put forward by Newman, Smith, Dexheimer-Pharris and Jones (2008), and can be identified as prominent in nursing studies and the development of nursing theories. The nursing theories based on these fundamental concepts serve as the building blocks for all nursing knowledge and as Smith and Parker (2010) explain “the primary purpose of nursing theories is to further the development and understanding of nursing practice”Discipline of Nursing Essay

As Nursing projects itself forward into an evolving unitary world view, it is important to critique and explore some dynamics of advancing nursing professionally as a distinct caring-healing health discipline. Worldwide, health care has to be responsive to the caring-healing needs of humanity, transcending hospitals, industrial institutional practices, and bureaucratic systems controlled by medical technical dominance.

Discipline and a Profession

Discipline and profession are often used interchangeably and confused to mean the same thing. However, the two terms have different meanings even though they are interrelated. According to Alligood (2018), a discipline is mainly associated with academics where it refers to a knowledge domain, a learning department, or an education branch. On the other hand, Alligood (2018), defines a profession as,“a specialized field of practice, founded upon the theoretical structure of the science or knowledge of that discipline and accompanying practice abilities” (p. 6).This means that discipline is the foundation of a profession.Discipline of Nursing Essay

Differences between a Discipline and a Profession

Several criteria distinguish discipline from a profession. The first distinction is the purpose. Alligood (2018), argues that a discipline aims at equipping one with knowledge and skills in a specific field of study such as the school of nursing, medicine, engineering, or law. On the other hand,a profession aims at practicing the knowledge acquired from a discipline such as a clinical nurse attending to a patient. It is also essential that all disciplines have theoretical knowledge. According to Alligood (2018), nurses began to acquire higher education such as baccalaureate in universities in the late twentieth century with the aim of learning to improve knowledge. This led to the development of more top degree programs in nursing such as masters that had a standardized curriculum.Discipline of Nursing Essay

Nursing as a Discipline and a Profession

Nursing is both a discipline and a profession. As a discipline, nursing involves academically concentrating on a specific domain of knowledge.This involves studying the health and environment of human beings that began after the introduction of a standardized nursing curriculum in the mid-twentieth century. Alligood (2018), argues that nursing is a discipline due to specific knowledge focussed on patients. Secondly, several nursing theories expound on nursing knowledge. According to Alligood (2018), the theoretical knowledge acquired in college is essential for individuals pursuing nursing. As a profession, Alligood (2018),identifies various criteria used for classification. Firstly, nursing practice involves the utilization of well-organized and specialized knowledge acquired through higher education. Secondly, it requires continuous improvement of knowledge and educational techniques through scientific methods. Thirdly, nursing practitioners are educated in institutions of higher learning only. The author adds that nursing knowledge is applied to improve human welfare. Besides, nursing practitioners get proper compensation to gain economic security and get an opportunity to grow their career in nursing.Discipline of Nursing Essay

Basic and Applied Science

Basic science involves acquiring fundamental scientific knowledge such as cell anatomy. On the other hand, applied science involves the application of the foundation of scientific knowledge.

Difference between Basic and Applied science

The difference between basic and applied science arises from their aims. Basic science aims to unearth and correctly understand problems; it involves a thorough understanding of the functioning mechanism of fundamental elements such as body cell. On the other hand, applied science aims to use scientific knowledge acquired to solveidentified problems. Basic science provides the workingbasis for applied science.

Nursing as a Science

According to Alligood (2018), scientists are confused about whether to categorize nursing as a basic or applied science. Nursing involves the application of the body of knowledge acquired through basic sciences such as cell anatomy to solve practical problems.Besides, it uses evidence-based practice through research to address health-related problems. Alligood (2018), argues that nursing theories provide the basis for nursing practice to solve health-related problems. Nursing is thus an applied science because it borrows basic science knowledge to address health-related issues with a focus on the patient.Discipline of Nursing Essay

Nurses and nursing are challenged to grow and sustain its foundation as the healthcare profession, globally. However, it cannot move forward to fulfill its social mandate without clarity of its disciplinary foundation. In other words, the discipline of nursing is different from, but intersecting with the evolution of the profession of nursing.

Without a clear disciplinary orientation and foundation to guide the development of the profession, it is easy to lose the way. The Nursing profession, without the disciplinary foundation for knowledge and practice, can easily be guided by a hospital culture and pressure to conform to medicalized, clinicalized views of humanity. This medical technical view of human experiences in health and illness is in contrast to nursing’s unitary disciplinary worldview, e.g., a committed worldview based on timeless values, a philosophical orientation to unity of mindbodyspirit, whole person health, and human caring – healing knowledge that sustains global humanity.Discipline of Nursing Essay

Theories and philosophies of science are the foundation for discipline specific knowledge. It is the foundational philosophies, values, and worldview they transcend specific events, and seek to provide universal explanations that can reflect the ethical-philosophical foundation and values for the entire field of study.1-2 Likewise, theories contain underlying ontological-philosophical-ethical assumptions; epistemological assumptions about knowledge, what counts as knowledge, how we pursue knowledge, and values about of what does it mean to be human?

Discipline specific approaches to knowledge and knowing address such questions as: What is the nature of human caring-healing, health experiences? How do we sustain human caring when threatened? What is the relation between and among human-environment, global planetary health and science generally?

Nursing scholars, educators, clinicians, researchers, and policy makers have a responsibility to sustain nursing as a distinct caring-healing-health discipline, guided by extant and dynamically evolving nursing theoretical frameworks, foundational to nursing knowledge development.Discipline of Nursing Essay

As Nursing meets the future, it is important to clarify the difference between the discipline of nursing and the profession of nursing.

When people have difficulty articulating: What is nursing? or What is nursing science? or more recently What is Caring Science? there often is a void and nurses are not able to give voice and language to nursing’s knowledge and as a distinct discipline.3

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The following are identified as essential aspects of the discipline of nursing:2

The discipline of nursing is what holds nursing’s timeless values, its heritage and traditions, and knowledge development toward sustaining caring, humanity and health for all.

The discipline is what holds and honors ontology of whole person – the unity of mindbodyspirit and a relational unitary worldview.Discipline of Nursing Essay

The discipline is what adheres to nursing’s philosophical orientation toward humanity and nursing’s ethical global covenant with humanity to sustain human caring-healing-health for all.

The discipline is what holds the theories, the orientation toward knowledge development, and what counts as knowledge, expanding conventional Western science and medical epistemologies.

The discipline is what holds nursing’s research traditions and diverse and evolving approaches to knowledge development; the discipline-specific orientation to knowledge, critiques “what counts as knowledge”.

The discipline addresses expanded, diverse, creative, and innovative methodologies and methods consistent with human caring-healing health – illness experiences and phenomena.

The discipline holds grand, middle range, and situation-specific theories to provide a shared evolved, unitary world view, whereby health is related to social-moral justice, and whole person/whole system processes and outcomes; acknowledging human caring and eco-caring are one – e.g., humans and planet are connected. This reflects a distinct disciplinary position.

All nursing theories take a position on disciplinary knowledge and this collective building leads to professional identity and visibility of nursing knowledge. Without identity, disciplinary clarity, and commitment to support and promote substantive nursing knowledge development, nursing will not exist.Discipline of Nursing Essay

The Nursing profession, in recent years, with rise of external crises of economics, management science, technology, medicalized, hospital-based practices and policies, has been detoured from its disciplinary foundation. It has been defined by hospital technical industrial nursing practices and sick care. But nursing is much more than conforming to hospital institutional controls; nursing is directly accountable to individual and group human-community experiences. Without a clear disciplinary orientation and foundation to guide the development of the profession, it is easy to lose the way. Any profession that does not have discipline specific language to give voice to its role in society, becomes, and remains invisible; indeed it may not exist. At this turning point, all nurses in the world are invited to advance nursing as a distinct human caring healing-health science discipline or we shrink back into very good professional technicians, working within a totally transformed global health care system.Discipline of Nursing Essay

NURSING AS A DISCIPLINE.
Is nursing a discipline or just a profession? The term discipline describes the practise of training people to obey rules or a code of behaviour, so can nursing be placed under this classification? The term profession described as a paid occupation or a body of people engaged in a particular profession, so can nursing be placed under this classification? Yes nursing is a paid occupation, thus allowing it to be placed under the classification of nursing as a profession. However, nursing can also be placed under discipline as you are trained to obey a code of behaviour. Nursing as a discipline has interrelated relationships between nursing practice, knowledge and research and these relationships help to advance the discipline of nursing. Is nursing a profession or a discipline? The goal of the discipline is to expand knowledge about human experiences through creative conceptualisation and research, (Parse, R.R, 1999). The goal of the profession is to provide a service to humankind through living the art of science, (Parse, R.R, 1999). Through those definitions of the nursing discipline and the nursing profession, it can be seen that the nursing practice can be thought as a discipline or a profession. The discipline of nursing encompasses the knowledge in the extant framework and theories that are embedded in the totality and simultaneity paradigm, (Parse, R.R, 1999). The profession of nursing consists of person educated in the discipline of nursing according to nationally regulated defined and monitored standards, (Parse, R.R, 1999). You can see that nursing is both a profession and a discipline and you can see that there are interrelationships between nursing practice, knowledge and research. In nursing as a discipline you can see that there is an interrelationship between nursing practice, knowledge and research. It has been said that that understanding of knowledge base is essential for judgement and decision-making Discipline of Nursing Essay