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Conceptual Models of Nursing: Analysis and Application, by Joyce J. Fitzpatrick and Ann Whall. Published by Prentice-Hall. Copyright © 2005 by Pearson Education, Inc.
2 CONCEPTUAL MODELS OF NURSING: ANALYSIS & APPLICATION
Conceptual Models of Nursing: Analysis and Application, by Joyce J. Fitzpatrick and Ann Whall. Published by Prentice-Hall. Copyright © 2005 by Pearson Education, Inc.
NURSING KNOWLEDGE DEVELOPMENT 3
Both research and clinical practice are guided by general and specific
understandings of the world. At times, the broad understandings are re-
ferred to as “world views.” Within the nursing discipline, as these models
have become more deliberate and more systematically developed they
have been understood as nursing conceptual models. As models and frame-
works, these structures provide the foundation for development of both
clinical and scientific knowledge. These models provide both the form (or
the structures) and the content on which we base our science and profes-
sional practice. The more specific understandings are referred to as theo-
ries. Both the broad conceptualizations and the specific theories guide both
research and professional practice in nursing.
Nursing as a discipline must attend to both the process of knowledge
development and the content of nursing knowledge. The nurse scientist and
the nurse clinician must have the tools with which to develop their knowl-
edge, at the same time knowing the content parameters of the knowledge
that is to be developed. Multiple modes of inquiry within both research and
clinical practice are warranted, especially given that nursing has staked a
knowledge claim to understandings of the holistic persons and their health.
Nurse scientists and clinicians together can develop knowledge that builds
the holistic framework, thus adding a dimension of knowledge that is not
developed through other disciplines, or through the application of knowl-
edge from these other disciplines to professional nursing practice.
Quality research is rather simple to identify from a general scientific
standard. Peer-reviewed evaluation of the merit of research serves as the ba-
sic criteria, including use of the peer review process in judging both the
award of research funds and the acceptance of manuscripts in scientific jour-
nals. Quality theory is also possible to evaluate, although a different set of
criteria is used. There exists a basic set of evaluation criteria that is consis-
tent across levels of theory. There also exists a set of standards upon which
clinical knowledge can be judged. Thus, each component of knowledge de-
velopment has its own parameters for judging the quality of the work.
Some characteristics are desirable in both clinical scholarship and re-
search. Knowledge development from either approach would be enhanced
by attention to excellence and creativity. At the same time it is important
to attend to the desired outcomes and anticipated products of the knowl-
edge development processes, whether developed through clinical scholar-
ship or research. Outcome-driven models are most valued in contemporary
professional work. Thus, both the clinical and the scientific way of know-
ing in nursing are built on a strong foundation of inquiry, with attention to
both the process and content of the inquiry.
Both clinical scholarship and research are likely to flourish in envi-
ronments where there is support for knowledge development, including
ISBN: 0-536-26229-2
Conceptual Models of Nursing: Analysis and Application, by Joyce J. Fitzpatrick and Ann Whall. Published by Prentice-Hall. Copyright © 2005 by Pearson Education, Inc.
4 CONCEPTUAL MODELS OF NURSING: ANALYSIS & APPLICATION
REFERENCES
Fitzpatrick, J. J. (2002). The balance in nursing: Clinical and scientific ways of knowing
and being. Nursing Education Perspectives, 23, 57.
Fitzpatrick, J. J. (2003). The case for the clinical doctorate. Reflections in Nursing Leader-
ship, 29, 8, 9, 13.
Kuhn, T. S. (1977). The essential tension: Selected studies in scientific tradition and
change. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
ISBN: 0-536-26229-2
Conceptual Models of Nursing: Analysis and Application, by Joyce J. Fitzpatrick and Ann Whall. Published by Prentice-Hall. Copyright © 2005 by Pearson Education, Inc.