On nursing theories and evidence

To expand the understanding of what constitutes evidence for theory-guided, evidence-based nursing practice from a narrow focus on empirics to a more comprehensive focus on diverse patterns of knowing.

Carper's four fundamental patterns of knowing in nursing--empirical, ethical, personal, and aesthetic--are required for nursing practice. A different mode of inquiry is required to develop knowledge about and evidence for each pattern.

Theory, inquiry, and evidence are inextricably linked. Each pattern of knowing can be considered a type of theory, and the modes of inquiry appropriate to the generation and testing of each type of theory provide diverse sources of data for evidence-based nursing practice. Different kinds of nursing theories provide different lenses for critiquing and interpreting the different kinds of evidence essential for theory-guided, evidence-based holistic nursing practice.