Using story theory to create an innovative honors level nursing course

The purpose of this paper is to describe the use of a nursing theory-based strategy to create an undergraduate nursing clinical course that extended the nursing curriculum to meet the requisites for University Honors College credit. Using the middle range theory of story theory, this innovative teaching strategy had two goals: to plan nursing care with a focus on the human response to illness, and to integrate this strategy into an existing clinical course. Methods of teaching the theory and application to practice are described.A schedule is provided that outlines and describes how the experience was put into action, documented, and discussed. Use of this strategy raised the quality of the clinical experience for all students.This quality was seen in the ability to expand the curriculum, and in the student course evaluations. Students were able to understand theory, apply it to practice, and plan holistic nursing care.