Ways Of Knowing In Nursing

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Personal Views on the Five Ways of Knowing in Nursing Knowledge is an important fundamental base for practice in all areas of health care. Many nursing theorists have tried to define and identify nursing knowledge since the time of Florence Nightingale. Carper’s seminal article in 1978 highlighted four ways of knowing; this delineated knowledge beyond just empirical (Bonis, 2009). The inclusion of White’s sociopolitical knowing rounded out nursing knowledge more completely. While the different types of knowledge are diverse, these ways of knowing do not exist in isolation. The nurse must use knowledge from all domains to effectively care for the patient as each contributes to the nursing profession. Empirical knowing is the science, Esthetics is the art, personal is the self, ethical is moral, and sociopolitical is the “wherein” (White, 2012). Because nursing knowledge constantly grows and changes, it is important for the nurse to…show more content…
Not only must the nurse understand the patient and their background, but they must also be cognizant of their interactions with the patient; in essence, how is the nurse able to create an authentic relationship (Fawcett, et. al, 2012). Personal knowing encompasses viewing the patient as more than just a patient. You look at the patient as a human being, and become engaged in a relationship with the patient (Carper, 2012; White, 1995). We discern one exemplar of this form of knowing in the nursing care of multicultural patients. By engaging the patients, and developing a relationship with the patient, the nurse can identify a possible need for the patient to incorporate traditional healing into their treatment. Carper (2012) states personal knowing includes the acceptance of other’s decisions. The patient is free to choose their actions, and the nurse must be willing to reconcile their feelings where this falls outside of the
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