Bridging the Theory Practice Gap Term Paper

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Nursing

A gap between theory and practice is haunting nursing and presenting major problems for healthcare administrators, policy makers, practitioners, and patients alike. As Rolfe (1993) puts it, "the theory-practice gap continues to defy resolution," in spite of the efforts of theorists, educators, and practitioners. A gap between theory and practice can impede practice because of a disconnect between theory and practice. Yet theory cannot be discarded; practice does not exist in a vacuum. Proper and best practices evolve from theory, which in turn collects experience and knowledge that comprise practice. The relationship between theory and practice is therefore a circular and cyclical one. This relationship is also bound to change as the nursing and healthcare fields evolve over the course of the 21st century.

As Silva (1999) points out, all nurses in whatever area of specialization including nurse education must understand the value of theory generation. Theory generation is a cornerstone of any and all scientific endeavor. Through experimentation and research, theories evolve and can inform future investigations. In a field with hands-on applications like nursing, theory becomes critical. "Nurses must," claims Silva (1999), "commit themselves to nursing theory and science in a productive way" because "a major goal of science is to generate theory," (p. 221). It is detrimental to nursing education, practice, and policy making to disparage theory. "Nurses cannot afford to disparage what is a generally accepted scientific maxim without looking foolish," (Silva, 1999, p. 221). Even if practice is of the utmost importance in nursing, theory is the foundation of all practice lest nursing becomes quackery.

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Furthermore, the future of nursing is as a multidisciplinary and cross-disciplinary profession. Nursing is no longer a sideline of health care or a helping profession to assist the work of physicians. Nursing is now its very own discipline with its own set of theories. "To communicate better with ourselves," theory provides the frameworks for nursing discourse. Theory enables the creation of nursing organizations, areas of specialization, and educational conferences. Policy making depends in a common language and level of discourse. Likewise, theory assists the communication between nurses and other members of a healthcare team. Whether working with individual or multiple patients in an institutions nurses will be working with various members of a team -- some of whom might not be in the healthcare sector at all but in insurance and other fields. As Silva (1999) suggests, "we must simplify and/or eliminate contrived or convoluted language in existing nursing theories that only speaks to a few," (p. 221). This simplification or elimination of contrived language should be a general guideline for how to bridge the gap between theory and practice. The gap is no longer a perceived one, but a real one.

One of the realms that the gap is most difficult to bridge is in education. Landers (2008) notes that modern nurse practitioners contend with "increasingly complex requirements" in the course….....

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