Developing the nurse as a knowledge worker in health--learning the artistry of practice

Nursing in the future will be a promoter of health and well-being. This paper argues that health has been inadequately conceptualised and the knowledge base required by nurses to practice as 'knowledge workers' in health gain poorly defined. An epistemology for nursing is proposed that considers knowledge to be a construction of empirical, clinical and personal ways of knowing, contextualised within the activity of the nurse as 'knower'. The difficulties nursing has in defining and developing this unique epistemology are discussed. Lastly, the implications this unique epistemology will have for nursing education are explored. The authors draws upon personal experience to explore and purpose the use of clinical supervision as a tool which can be used by lecturers to coach nurses in the artistry of reflection in action, thus developing the therapeutic skills and knowledge base necessary to promote health as a holistic, multi-dimensional, dynamic, evolving and transforming process.