Leaping the chasm between nursing theory and practice

Abstract

The author considers that whilst nurse tutors teach theory, nurse practitioners go on nursing in the same way that they always have done. There appears to be a chasm dividing theory and practice. This paper describes an attempt to leap that chasm. The paper identifies the problem, inherent in the nursing process that creates such difficulties in its implementation. The nursing process alone does not provide an adequate framework for nursing practice. The paper then describes how the translation of theory into practice took place on a ward in Brighton General Hospital, Brighton, England. The barrier between theory and practice is highlighted, along with a description of how the problems this presents to ward staff were overcome. The author considers that the attribution of cause is a key concept in the problem-solving approach, since it generates the question--Why?--and therefore that attribution of cause must be a concept in any model of nursing that is being used to implement the nursing process. The paper provides an example of how nursing models may be adapted, at ward level, to guide everyday practice, whilst retaining the conceptual framework of the model. The inference of the paper is that such a process could be applied to other models resulting in a greater use of theory in everyday nursing practice.