Expert thinking in nursing practice: implications for supporting expertise

The complexity of the art of expert nursing practice is an elusive phenomenon, which is difficult to articulate in concrete terms that can be translated into achieving quality patient care outcomes. The present study describes the findings of two hermeneutic (interpretive) studies on expert thinking that captured the holistic practice of expert clinicians. The findings from these studies provide insight into how expert practice can be administratively supported. These findings also have strong implications for strategies to facilitate the development of expertise in practice. In order to provide holistic care, nurses must spend time with their patients so that the particularities and meaning inherent in each unique patient situation can be understood. The art of expert thinking is a temporal and ethical activity, which needs to be supported and cultivated in a changing health-care delivery system.