Ways of Knowing in Nursing

This essay discusses the five ways of knowing in nursing - empirical, ethics, aesthetics, personal knowledge, and social political. It explores how these ways of knowing are applied in nursing practice through a scenario involving a nurse named Shelley. The essay emphasizes the importance of integrating these ways of knowing for better quality nursing practice. Find study material and solved assignments on nursing at Desklib.

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WAYS OF KNOWING IN NURSING
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THE FIVE WAYS OF KNOWING IN NURSING.
In my discussion I will be analyzing the ways of knowing in nursing with my focus on
Shelley and Sam who are registered nurses. Their thought process and way of acting in this
scenario is well informed from different ways of knowing in nursing and they are well applied.
The nursing profession majorly dwell on four diverse ways of knowing as initially explained by
Barbara A. Carper in 1978 who was a professor at Texas Woman’s University college of
Nursing. This essay will dwell on five critical ways of knowing in nursing namely; empirical,
ethics, aesthetics, personal knowledge, and social political.
Empirical as one of the fundamental ways of knowing in nursing is used to explain the
science of nursing. Refers to the use laws and theories with the aim to gain knowledge that can
be used to explain pathologies and predict health outcomes. In this scenario Shelley assesses the
foot of James who has come in with a cut and from her knowledge of the current situation she is
able to explain to Jenny what steps she will need to do in order to treat James. Shelly irrigates
James cut using aseptic technique with the knowledge of the danger posed by septic material in a
cut wound. After treating the cut and bandaging she then advises Jenny on what follow up care is
needed for the expected outcome in this case. Shelly has clearly demonstrated that empirical
knowledge through assessing of the cut and knowing it is not as unpleasant as it appears to be,
she has the diagnosis of the problem she faces. She undertakes the necessary interventions to
treat the cut and achieves her goal in the end by treating the cut. She ensures that scientific
knowledge is well applied as expressed by Lisa, Garland, and Miller (2015) that it revolves
around articulation of proved theories, well-regulated proposed procedures, conceptual models
and theories.

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Personal knowledge as one of the fundamental way of knowing in nursing is the
assimilation and materializing of interconnection between a nurse and the patient involved. It is
suggested by Lisa, Garland, and Miller (2015) that after one has fully know themselves then they
can wholly know the other person with this getting support from Carper who said that no one
truly knows themselves but we only try to. Shelley who has children herself can relate to Jenny’s
current situation of worry when her three year old son James is cut as she was also worried as a
young mother. She uses this knowledge acquired through personal experience to try and calm
down Jenny and give her reassurance that everything will be fine and it will help James as well
in the process. When one has gone through experience in life and accepted it personally and
taken it positively then only can they help others faced by the similar situations in life. Shelly
clearly understands what it means to be a young mother and uses her knowledge in nursing
practice to help her patient James and the mother Jenny. This concept of personal knowledge has
been very helpful as it helps provide an opportunity for improved service delivery (Mantzorou
and Mastrogiannis, 2011). The significance of personal knowledge is that it is gained through
personal efforts or experience without any endeavor in paying attention to documented concepts
and procedures which may be ununderstandable (Bonis, 2009). Through personal knowledge
then nurses can use their own undocumented experience in the treatment of patients as Shelly is
able to immediately calm Jenny and James through her experience of being a young mother.
Aesthetics as a way of knowing in nursing is regarded to as the art of nursing based on
the reflection of their experience. It was described by Carper (1978) as mind, body and spirit
involvement in creative, transformational experience. It is not based on scientific knowledge,
personal insight and intuition required, depends on the individual and their current
environment(Carper,2010). When Jenny arrives at the hospital with James her son having a cut

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on the foot Shelly calms them and makes them feel at ease. Shelly tries to establish meaningful
connection between her, Jenny and James by first introducing herself and then asking their
names.This connection helps the patient understand that they are in a friendly environment where
they can get the help they really need as opposed to when the patients feel that they are not in a
place of care. Shelly skillfully performs her nursing activities by irrigating the cut first then
bandaging it, this way Jenny feels that her son is in safe hands of Shelly and he will be treated
well. She talks to Jenny while treating James cut foot with the idea that this will distract her from
what is happening to her son and in the process help them get to know each other. When in
nursing practice a rapport is established the patients are likely to volunteer more information than
when none has been established.
Ethical way of knowing in nursing is the aspect that is concerned with morality. As a way
of knowing in nursing it gives nurses a way to make a decision that will result to least harm on
the patient in consideration to the values available. Shelly irrigates James cut using aseptic
technique all the while looking at his face to see his reactions, when he winces she modifies the
pressure of irrigation to minimize discomfort while cleansing the wound effectively. Shelly
being a mother understands the pain the ones child and uses this to try as much as possible to
cause no harm to James while discharging her duties (Kassam-Adams et al., 2015). While it is
unlikely that a nurse will utilize only one theoretical view on moral issues the more informed a
nurse is the better the nurse will be able to handle difficult situations. Ethics focus on matters of
obligation or what ought to be done, it requires judgment about what is wrong and what is
wright. It is a complex consequence of learning, deliberation and engagement with the standards,
codes, and values of the profession of nursing. Shelly treated James before his mother could fill

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the necessary paper work, this is something she would object but this scenario shows that
adheres to the code of conduct of nurses and that she highly respects the profession.
Social-political way of knowing in nursing means understanding where the practice of
nursing is taking place. Porter, Forbes, & White (2011) added this aspect of knowing in nursing
to the original four theories proposed by Barbara Carper in 1978 with the idea that they did not
fully cover place of practice for the nursing profession. Jil suggested that there are two social
political knowing; the social political context of the nurse and the patient and secondly the
social-political context of nursing as a profession including what society understands of nursing
and nursing’s understanding of society and its politics (Porter, Forbes, & White, 2011). The
setting of the scenario given is in a small rural hospital in a coastal town, this helps understand
the social background of the area as compared to an urban hospital. Through learning and
understanding the culture of the people involved then the practice of nursing can be effectively
rendered to the place in question. Sam a nurse in the hospital as carefully noted that James is the
third patient to come to this hospital with a cut foot on this particular holiday from a broken glass
that are becoming a hazard as the town attracts more people. He acknowledges the social and
political organization by suggesting that they need a recycling plant as the current rubbish bins
are inadequate (Porter, Forbes, & White, 2011).. The nurses in the hospital also understand that
they belong to the society and it is role to work for the public good and this includes providing a
safe and clean environment.
In conclusion the five ways of knowing in nursing have to be integrated and executed
together for better quality nursing practice. The aim of Carper coming up with the theories was
to formally express the nursing knowledge, provide a disciplined and professional nursing
practice, portray to the society what nursing contributes to health care and lastly create expert

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and effective nursing practice. The scenario given shows that Shelly, a nurse at a rural hospital in
a coastal town,understands Carpers theories well. She also tries to execute them in her practice.
When these theories are practiced holistically they demonstrate how well the nurses can tend to
their patients for the best outcome in health care. Jil Whites theory of social-political way of
knowing also demonstrates that the four theories are not wholesome in practice without taking
into consideration the society and politics of the place in which the nursing practice is taking
place. Without harmony between the nursing as a profession and the social-political practices of
the region then desirable outcome may not be achieved in the end. The nurses in the hospital are
aware of this and they lobby the council to provide more resources as a long term solution to the
hazard being posed by broken glasses in the beach and ask the local service organization to help
them organize a cleanup day.

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