Using Ockham’s razor to redefine “nursing science”

Grace, Pamela J.; Zumstein-Shaha, Maya (2019). Using Ockham’s razor to redefine “nursing science” Nursing Philosophy, 21(2), e12246. Wiley 10.1111/nup.12246

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Confusion remains about the concept “nursing science.” Definitions vary, depending on country, context and setting. Even among nurse scholars and scientists there is disagreement about the content and boundaries of nursing science. There is an urgent need for an acceptable definition that can guide nursing knowledge development, education, and practice. In this article, we highlight the problems for the profession of this sort of conceptual ambiguity, arguing that it is an ethical responsibility for the profession to gain clarity about the meaning and apt focus of our knowledge development initiatives. We parse out nursing and science as separate concepts and synthesize from this analysis a simple yet comprehensive definition of nursing science. We propose that this definition is capable of unifying ongoing nursing endeavors and should serve as the basis for evaluating nursing's knowledge development and educational initiatives.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	School of Health Professions
Name:	Grace, Pamela J. and Zumstein-Shaha, Maya0000-0003-4253-3123
ISSN:	1466-7681
Publisher:	Wiley
Language:	English
Submitter:	Christoph Golz
Date Deposited:	23 Jan 2020 07:47
Last Modified:	18 Dec 2020 13:29
Publisher DOI:	10.1111/nup.12246
Related URLs:	Publisher
Additional Information:	Date: 2019
ARBOR DOI:	10.24451/arbor.10162
URI:	https://arbor.bfh.ch/id/eprint/10162