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The knowledgeable practice of critical care nurses: a poststructural inquiry.
1Department of Neonatology, The Royal Children's Hospital and Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Flemington Rd, Parkville, Melbourne, Vic. 3052, Australia. bev.copnell@rch.org.au
International Journal of Nursing Studies
|December 19, 2006
Summary
Critical care nurses perceive knowledgeable practice as key to being a good nurse, emphasizing both theoretical and practical knowledge. However, power dynamics often position nurses as ignorant, challenging the idea that knowledge acquisition alone empowers them.
Area of Science:
- Nursing
- Healthcare Professional Development
- Qualitative Research
Background:
- Nursing literature frequently highlights the importance of nurses being knowledgeable.
- The continuous acquisition of knowledge is emphasized as a solution to professional challenges.
- Little is understood about nurses' own perceptions of practicing knowledgeably.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore critical care nurses' understandings of knowledgeable practice.
- To examine the relationship between knowledgeable practice and the identity of a "good nurse".
Main Methods:
- A poststructuralist framework guided the study.
- Data were collected from 12 critical care nurses through three individual focused interviews each.
- Interview texts were deconstructed to analyze discourses of knowledgeable practice.
Main Results:
- Knowledgeable practice is central to critical care nurses' identity as "good nurses".
- Nurses perceive knowledge as both theoretical ("knowing why") and practical ("knowing how"), reinforced by repetitive actions.
- Positioning as knowledgeable, rather than actual knowledge, was crucial, yet often undermined by medical and nursing staff, highlighting a power dynamic where nurses are presumed ignorant until proven otherwise.
Conclusions:
- The study challenges the notion that knowledge acquisition alone empowers nurses.
- Strategies are needed to disrupt power relations that perpetuate the assumption of nurses' ignorance.
- Rethinking professional development to address power structures is essential for genuine empowerment.
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