The Evolution of Nursing

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, historical eras, development stages, and theory levels in nursing science.

Metaparadigm

The most abstract level of knowledge specifying the main concepts that encompass the subject matter and scope of a discipline; in nursing, it consists of Person, Environment, Health, and Nursing.

Philosophy

The knowledge level that specifies the definitions of the metaparadigm concepts in each of the conceptual models of nursing.

Conceptual Models

Frameworks or paradigms that provide a broad frame of reference for systematic approaches with which a discipline is concerned.

Theory

A group of related concepts that propose actions that guide practice.

Nursing Theory

A group of related concepts derived from nursing models that describe, explain, predict, or prescribe nursing practice.

Middle Range Theories

The least abstract level of theoretical knowledge that includes details specific to nursing practice, such as situation or health condition, patient population, area of practice, and nurse intervention.

Grand Theories

Theories broadest in scope, less abstract than conceptual models but composed of general concepts still relatively abstract whose relationships cannot be tested empirically.

Knowledge

Understanding acquired through learning or investigation of what is known about a discipline's subject matter, consisting of facts or tentative theoretically based knowledge.

Phenomena

The subject matter of a discipline or observable facts or events.

Concept

An idea or complex mental image of a phenomenon (object, property, or event) that serves as a major component of a theory.

Abstract Concepts

Concepts that are independent of time or place and indirectly observable, such as hope.

Concrete Concepts

Concepts specific to time and place that are observable, such as eye color, height, and weight.

Model

A representation that can be verbal (worded statements) or schematic (symbols, physical visualizations, diagrams, graphs, or pictures that facilitate understanding).

Paradigm

Another term for a conceptual framework or conceptual model.

Propositions

Theoretical statements that specify the proposed relationships among the concepts of a theory.

Induction

A form of logical reasoning that moves from specific observed instances to general conclusions.

Deduction

A form of logical reasoning that moves from general premises to specific conclusions.

Metatheory

The highest, most abstract level of theory presenting a global perspective of the nursing discipline by identifying and evaluating critical phenomena.

Practice Theories

The first and least abstract level of nursing theory that describes specific prescriptions or modalities for nursing practice.

Trephining

A medieval practice of drilling a hole in the skull with a rock or stone without anesthesia as a last resort to drive evil spirits from the body.

Period of Intuitive Nursing

A medieval period where caregiving was untaught, instinctive, based on experience and observation, and viewed as a natural nurturing role for women without formal training.

Period of Apprentice Nursing

A Middle Ages period where care was provided by Crusaders, prisoners, and religious orders, later declining before the establishment of the Kaiserswerth Institute.

Period of Educated Nursing

The 19th to 20th century Nightingale Era strongly influenced by war trends, social consciousness, and women's educational opportunities, marked by the 1860 opening of The Nightingale Training School of Nurses.

Period of Contemporary Nursing

The 20th-century period marked by nurse licensure, hospital specialization, degree programs, technological advances, and viewing health as a fundamental human right.

Curriculum Era

A historical era addressing what prospective nurses must study, emphasizing the shift from hospital-based training to college and university education.

Research Era

A historical era where nurses pursued higher education degrees, began participating in research, and introduced research courses into nursing curricula.

Graduate Nursing Education Era

An era marked by master's programs with embedded nursing research and early conceptual model courses to introduce nursing theorists.

Theory Era

An era emerging from the research era that recognized research without theory produces isolated information, whereas research and theory together produce nursing science.

Silent Knowledge Stage

A theory development stage characterized by blind obedience to medical authority, minimal theory development, and research limited to epidemiological data.

Received Knowledge Stage

A theory development stage where theories were borrowed from other disciplines and non-nursing doctoral authority was relied upon to answer nursing problems.

Subjective Knowledge Stage

A stage where authority was internalized, a negative attitude toward borrowed theories emerged, and research focused on the nurse rather than clients or clinical situations.

Procedural Knowledge Stage

A stage involving separate and connected knowledge, characterized by a proliferation of theory approaches and emphasis on methodologies while underemphasizing practical application.

Constructed Knowledge Stage

A stage emphasizing the integration of different types of knowledge including intuition, reason, self-knowledge, empirical studies, theoretical literature, and client reports.

Rationalism

An epistemology emphasizing a priori reasoning and deductive logic from cause to effect or generalization to particular instance to advance knowledge.

Empiricism

A view based on the central idea that scientific knowledge can be derived only from sensory experience.

Discipline

A branch of education, department of learning, or domain of knowledge specific to academia.

Profession

A specialized field of practice founded upon the theoretical structure of the science or knowledge of a discipline and accompanying practice abilities.

Needs Theories

Theories centered on helping individuals fulfill physical and mental needs, often criticized for relying heavily on the medical model.

Interaction Theories

Theories centered on relationships nurses form with patients, emphasizing interpersonal dynamics over basic physical needs.

Outcome Theories

Theories portraying the nurse as a changing force that enables individuals to adapt to or cope with ill health.

Humanistic Theories

Theories that emphasize a person's capacity for self-actualization.

Descriptive Theories

Theories that observe, name, and describe concepts, properties, and dimensions without indicating how changes in one concept affect another.

Explanatory Theories

Theories that relate concepts to one another, specifying associations, interrelations, causes, and rules regulating interactions.

Predictive Theories

Theories that describe precise causal or consequential relationships between concepts to consistently predict future outcomes.

Prescriptive Theories

The highest level of theory development, prescribing activities and therapeutics necessary to reach defined goals and predict intervention consequences.

General System Theory

A theory describing how to break a whole into parts and learn how those parts work together in systems.

Developmental Theory

A theory outlining human growth and development as an orderly, predictable process from conception to death.

Adaptation Theory

A theory defining adaptation as the continuous adjustment of living matter to other living things and environmental conditions on internal, social, and physical levels.