Assignment on Nursing Theory PDF

Running Head: NURSING THEORY
Nursing Theory
Name of Student
Name of University
Author note

NURSING THEORY 1
Introduction
The theory works and researches by Patricia Benner provides valuable guidelines for the
professional practice in Nursing with her notable work From Novice to Expert. Benner
categorized nursing practices by 5 distinctive stages of capacities: advanced beginner, novice,
competent, proficient and expert. The research aimed to discover the distinguishable and
characteristic differences in the expert’s and novice’s observation and description of a given
clinical incident. The purpose of this essay is to elaborate on Benner’s Theory of novice to
expert, referring to the current literature for backing up the claims made in the propositions. For
describing the stages the nurses go through to become experts and how the theory is put into
practice, the paper refers to four journal articles utilising Benner’s theory in nursing. Finally, the
essay concludes with the utility and benefits of implementing Benner’s theory into nursing
practise, and how professionals can better themselves by adhering to the practises.
Content of the theory
Stage 1, when the would be professional is still a novice, he/she has no or limited
background experience in the involved circumstances. The difficulties concerning the relevant
and irrelevant facets of the situation are indispensable. The nurses who are inexperienced
function solely according to the instructions given to them by the Nursing School. They are not
trained to take the leap to patients from classroom lectures. Since they are unable to recognize
the individual needs of the patients, they end up applying random rules to all the patients.
Usually new graduates all nurses who retrieve work after a long gap can be categorized under
this section. The next stage, referred to as the beginner’s stage is when the novice embarks on
the journey of the professional life, changing the area and forte of practise. When the nurse
demonstrates a performance that is marginally acceptable after having encountered several real-

NURSING THEORY 2
life incidents, he/she has attained the Advanced Beginner stage. Rules and a system that is
oriented in task completion guides the activities and operations of these nurses. They are still in
need of experienced nurses or mentors for assisting them during critical conditions and
integrating their practical knowledge into practise. The competent stage of acquisition and skill
can be attained after two or three years of practise in the same area. It is considered the most
fundamental stage in medical learning as the learner is now expected to begin recognizing
patterns and determine the aspects of the situation that require intense attention and the ones that
can be ignored. The nurse in this stage devises new reasoning methods and rules for executing
plans and act in accordance with relevant facts and figures in a given situation. Following is the
Proficient stage which comes after 3 to 5 years of learning and practise. By this time the nurse
has developed a deep understanding of the circumstances as they reoccur, with the capability of
perceiving of the situation as a whole, rather than gathering the information in terms of
performance and aspects. At this level, the nurses display an improved ability to observe the
changing relevance in a given situation, including the implementation and recognition of trained
responses to the evolving situation. The Expert stage is achieved after five or more years of
meticulous training and practise. The performer in this stage is no longer in need of analytical
guidelines like maxims, rules and principles for linking the nurses’ understanding of the situation
to a suitable and applicable action. The nurse is now an expert and has now acquired immense
background knowledge and experience with an intuitive grasp on all situations without having to
undergo a wasteful consideration of a plethora of alternative solutions and unfruitful diagnoses.
Integration of Benner’s theory into practise
Authors Oshvandi, Khatiban, Borzu, Cheraghi, Moradi in their paper On the Application
of novice to expert theory in nursing; a systematic review has elucidated how Benner as a