Influences of the culture of science on nursing knowledge development: Using conceptual frameworks as nursing philosophy in critical care nursing

Abstract

Nursing knowledge development and application are influenced by numerous factors within the context of science and practice. The prevailing culture of science along with an evolving context of increasingly technological environments and rationalization within health care impacts both the generation of nursing knowledge and the practice of nursing. The effects of the culture of science and the context of nursing practice may negatively impact the structure and application of nursing knowledge, how nurses practice, and how nurses understand the patients and families for whom they care. Specifically, the nature of critical care and its highly technical environment make critical care nursing especially vulnerable to these potentially negative influences. The influences of the culture of science and the increasingly technical practice context may result in an overreliance on the natural sciences to guide critical care nursing actions and an associated marginalization of the caring relationship in critical care nursing practice. Within this environment, nursing philosophy may not be foundational to nursing actions; rather, the dominant culture of science and the rationalization of health care may be informing nursing practice. As such, the ideology and goals of nursing may not be central to the practice of critical care nursing. The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of the culture of science on the development of nursing knowledge and theory. Further, we aim to describe the value of using conceptual frameworks, such as Roy's Adaptation Model, as a nursing philosophy to influence the development of person-centred nursing knowledge and theory to inform critical care nursing practice as it related to the care of patients and families. In doing so, nursing philosophy is situated as foundational for nursing actions. K E Y W O R D S conceptual framework, critical care nursing, nursing knowledge development, nursing philosophy, rationalization How to cite this article: Burns M, Bally J, Burles M, Holtslander L, Peacock S. Influences of the culture of science on nursing knowledge development: Using conceptual frameworks as nursing philosophy in critical care nursing.

Complexities in Studying and Practicing Nursing—A Theoretical Elaboration Based on Reflections by Nurses and Nursing Students

“…Furthermore, challenges in terms of creating space for nurses to reflect on their practice, as reported by the participants in our study, are stated as motivating the development of a fundamentals-of-care framework to support nurses in reflecting on their practice, informed by an articulated nursing perspective. 46,47 Recent studies have also highlighted the relevance of further developing the clinical gaze through specialist training, 48 which was also highlighted by our student participants from different specialist programs.…”

Development of a conceptual framework for teaching-learning of spiritual care in nursing education

“…Burns et al ( 2020 :2) affirm the belief that the use of nursing frameworks must be safeguarded. Nelson ( 2017 :53) highlights this view by saying that potentially, the loss of theories and conceptual frameworks from academic instruction is due to the fact that many practitioners in nursing regard theories and conceptual frameworks as trivial and unmeasurable.…”

“…Consequently, insufficient use of frameworks may result in nursing becoming a skill-based practice instead of it being an interactive, integrative, and interpersonal practice which is critical for effective nursing outcomes. According to Burns et al ( 2020 ), the culture of technical-based science may override the innate human instincts and/or intuition and allow nursing to be overcome by technical practice which will marginalise the caring relationship. Hence, they warn that the culture of technical-based science can negatively influence nursing practice (Burns et al 2020 :2).…”

“…According to Burns et al ( 2020 ), the culture of technical-based science may override the innate human instincts and/or intuition and allow nursing to be overcome by technical practice which will marginalise the caring relationship. Hence, they warn that the culture of technical-based science can negatively influence nursing practice (Burns et al 2020 :2). The interpretation of nursing practice as an art and a science implies that all aspects of human nature should be considered during care giving.…”

“…The assumption that holistic nursing cannot be achieved without embracing spirituality and/or the inclusion of spiritual care, motivated the undertaking of the current study Van Leeuwen et al ( 2009 ). Burns et al ( 2020 ) alert that the notion of spiritual care in nursing practice is not recognised. As a results patients are denied attention in this aspect of human need and are also deprived of integrated holistic care that they deserve.…”