Nursing Theorists Assignment Report

Nursing Theorists
Name :
FROM NOVICE TO EXPERT NURSING THEORY

Introduction
 Nursing profession has significantly developed to accommodate
high acuity levels of patients, incorporation of healthcare
technology and thus increasing the need for expert nurses.
 Due to the increasing complexity of acute nursing care, it is
impossible to standardize and assign all duties of a nurse.
 As a result, there is need for long-term and continuous career
advancement, hence the need for a clear distinction between
experienced and novice nurse.
 This presentation will examine the “From Novice to Expert nursing
theory” by Benner (1984), and its application to a distressed
patient.

Major concepts of the theory
 There are five Levels of Nursing Experience according to Benner (1984).
1) Novice
2) Advanced beginner
3) Competent
4) Proficient
5) Expert
 The levels are a reflection of the variations in two main features of skilled
performance
 Change in the discernment and insight of a demand situation to an accumulation of
routine tasks
 Shift from dependence on abstract ideologies to real experience
(Brykcznski, 2013)

Major concepts of the theory...
1) Novice Nurse
 Generally applies to student nurse
 Apprentice with no experience
 Instructed on the basic rules to undertake nursing roles
 Guidelines:
 based on any relevant context, not reliant on explicit cases, generally applied.
 Controlled behavior is restricted and inflexible
2) Advanced Beginner Nurse
 Exhibits satisfactory performance
 Has previous experience in nursing practice, thus able to identify frequent significant aspects
 Aware of nursing principles, judgements are based on experiences
 Initiated into guide actions
(Brykcznski, 2013)