Doing practice differently: solution-focused nursing

Critical thinking and reasoning take many forms; however, a problem-orientation remains the favoured approach in health care.

This paper considers the effects of a problem-orientation and argues that a solution-orientation fits nursing's interests more closely and represents an exciting way forward in both education and practice.

Whilst a problem-focus is criticized by some, it remains largely unchallenged as the guiding light for nursing practice. A major reason is that the problem focused approach has strong cultural roots. It is deeply embedded in our thinking, and has become taken-for-granted and not often recognized or debated. Whilst problem-solving has an important place in helping to diagnose disorder and overcome difficulties, nursing needs to move beyond its borders because the role also concerns problem-free issues such as health and well-being. Creativity, imagination and focusing on strengths not problems are also important cognitive processes.

A problem-orientated approach in nursing has had a constraining rather than enabling influence. By refocusing on a solution-focused approach, we could show how we are different from medicine, and how we aim to do nursing differently through using skills such as engagement, resilience-building, community development, primary health care and health education.