Development of a nursing knowledge base in the life sciences: problems and prospects

This paper reviews some of the issues concerning the role of the life sciences in nursing education. The unique contribution of the study of these sciences to the theory and practice of nursing is noted, but it is argued that progress in their application to the developing curriculum of nursing is hampered by the traditional adherence to the medical and biomedical emphasis in schools of nursing. It is suggested that the use of a new concept termed bionursing could provide a basis for the development of a distinctive link between the life sciences and their application to the practice of nursing. The author reports part of a study of the role of the life sciences in nursing which suggests that nurse educators are themselves concerned about the difficulty of linking the study of the life sciences directly to nursing theory and practice.