Nursing Science and Theory

This course examines the development and organization of nursing knowledge. Patterns of knowing may seem unreconcilable to nursing praxis in our current health care systems. Within this context, it is imperative to examine the philosophical underpinnings so as to deepen the meaning of the nature of nursing: what nurses do; how they further their knowing; and what effect they have on the discipline of nursing. The course will aim to help students understand how the body of nursing knowledge has borrowed from traditional science. The ontological and epistemological underpinnings of nursing's pursuits of knowledge will be critically examined. To this end, students will be guided in deepening their patterns of thought and to relate it in examining the gap between theory and practice. At the end of the course, students are expected to be able to apprehend and critique the complexity of providing nursing care. cr 3