Activities and interactions of baccalaureate nursing students in clinical practica.

Basic nursing education is governed by individual state rules and regulations lacking in uniformity across the United States and based on unstated and perhaps mistaken assumptions. At the same time, there is increasing evidence of problems and difficulties with the current traditional model of nursing education. Before proposing changes in said model, the authors chose to examine what it is that a nursing student does in a clinical area. The perspective of activities and interactions was chosen to illustrate, through a nonparticipant observation study, the patterns and utilization of time during a scheduled clinical experience for baccalaureate nursing students. The goal of the study was to determine who, other than the client/patient, influences the student learning at the clinical site and how learning time is spent. Two schools (one private and one public) and nine clinical sites with 37 observations were used to collect the data for this study. Findings are best summarized in four (overlapping) categories of school time, registered nurse (RN) staff time, hospital staff time, and supervised time. School time, or time spent interacting with the instructor, another student, and/or the student on his/her own in the practice setting (time exclusive of staff input) constituted 84 per cent of all time. RN staff time that was time spent with either the primary nurse or other RNs on the unit used 10 per cent of the student time, Fourteen per cent of student time was spent in hospital staff time, which includes interactions with any nursing staff or other hospital personnel.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Explanation in nursing science.

Is it possible to explain that which we do in nursing and in most human sciences? Is explanation/prediction our goal? Instead, should the goal be understanding/interpretation? Might the goal be both understanding and explanation? Is nursing, as a human science, focused on individuality or generalizability? This paper explores the current debate in relation to explanation and understanding. The traditional view of explanation is addressed as is the dichotomous view of understanding. A third view on explanation and understanding, designed by Miller (1983), is offered as a possible middle ground between the two diverse views as an approach for nursing as a human science.

Psychological determinism and the evolving nursing paradigm.

The purpose of this article is to explore three behaviorist theories and their roles within the evolving paradigm of nursing. The authors suggest that the behaviorist theories of locus of control, self-efficacy, and the health belief model are derived from deterministic philosophical premises. These premises are in direct conflict with the premise of free will. As interpreted by the authors and many others, the emerging paradigm of nursing relies on the free will of the individual, the ability of the individual to choose for himself/herself what course of action to take, to avoid, or to pursue. The authors address the psychological deterministic philosophical premises within the three theories and utilize nursing theories to compare and contrast the views of free will and determinism. Finally, they suggest that the use of borrowed and applied theories should decline when nurse scientists are true to the philosophical assumptions of theories within nursing science.

Caring for people with AIDS: nurses' attitudes and feelings.

A qualitative, non-experimental study was conducted to identify the feelings and attitudes that nurses associate with caring for people with AIDS. Data collection and analysis were guided by the phenomenological method. Cognitive dissonance theory served as the theoretical framework to view the experience of caring for someone with AIDS. Data analysis of audiotaped, semi-structured interviews resulted in the identification of six mutually inclusive as well as exclusive themes which represent the attitudes and feelings of nurses: fear, anger, sympathy, self-enhancement, fatigue and helplessness. Particularly evident were differences in the way respondents perceived and treated AIDS patients who are intravenous drug users and those who are homosexuals.

The nature of scientific truth.

The purpose of this article is to share with the readers the authors' views on the need for a philosophical foundation in nursing scholarship. The philosophical premises of realism, idealism, and empiricism are discussed. In addition, the research methods most appropriately used with each philosophical stance are identified and discussed. The authors strongly suggest that nursing epistemology will not advance along the lines of good science until all nursing theorists, thinkers, and philosophers identify their underpinning philosophical positions prior to the discovery of theory, through research and other scientific endeavors. A nursing science fiction account of discovery and theory is used to illustrate the points made within the article.

The dilemma of nursing science: current quandaries and lack of direction.

The theme of this paper is the need to address the central question in nursing science. It is hypothesized that in the absence of a central, unifying question, the view of nursing as an applied science, the current research methodological debate, and the social policy statement definition of nursing have hindered nursing's ability to advance the science of nursing. The authors suggest that the terminology of applied science has been wrongfully interpreted as immediate application to nursing practice, that the research methodological debate has occurred because the focus of research efforts is on the means and not the end, and that the policy statement implies a stimulus-response approach to human behavior.