The article focusses on evaluating Dr. Patricia Benner’s seminal work. In her works, Dr. Benner coins the concepts of development of skills and insight concerning patient care by expert nurses through educational foundation and long term experiences. She argues that experience as well as mastery gained through training and education play a great role in moving nurses from novices to experts (Altmann, 2007). Nurses can acquire knowledge and skills, which she describes as “knowing how” without having to learn the theory “knowing why” (Altmann, 2007). The other unique concept that Benner describes in her theory is the connection between external and internal events where she argues that nurses develop universal ideas about patients that develop expert instinct within them that is observable by external observers (Altmann, 2007).
According to Altmann (2007), Dr. Benner describes four basic metaparadigms or concepts in nursing namely; nursing, person, environment and health. Benner depicts the nursing as “enabling situation of association and concern that results to a caring relationship” (Altmann, 2007). She maintains that there is a great emotional relationship between nurses and patients characterized with a lot care and concern. Altmann (2007) posits that nursing can improve their skill levels through advancement in education and most especially experience.
Benner describes the paradigm of person as a “self-interpreting being” (Altmann, 2007). A person is defined as he or she progressively lives his or her life. That person additionally gets better understanding of him being through a reflection of his self and environment. Altmann (2007), notes that Benner identifies four aspects that define a person as the role of body, situation, personal concerns and temporality. Benner continues to describe the four paradigms of nursing where she refers the concept of health as an assessable state. Additionally, she describes well-being as an individual understanding of health. Benner replaces the concept of environment with situation since it encompasses the social surroundings. She puts more emphasis on experiential interaction between individuals compared to the physical environment (Altmann, 2007).
Reference.
Altmann, T. (2007). An evaluation of the seminal work of Patricia Benner: Theory or philosophy? Contemporary Nurse, 25(1-2), 114-123. http://dx.doi.org/10.5172/conu.2007.25.1-2.114.
