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The Art and Science of Nursing

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What do we know about nursing? To what extent do we understand nursing? How can we decide if we do “know” what nursing is? These are questions asked when we are developing knowledge about Nursing as both an Art and Science. Nursing gathers it generalized knowledge from experience with unique individuals from sources such as everyday non-scientific knowledge yet nursing always return to the individual for the application of its knowledge. What is nursing science? Nursing science is defined according to Barrett (2002) “as the substantive, discipline-specific knowledge that focuses on the human- universe-health process articulate in the nursing frameworks and theories” (p. 57). In general nursing science is the system of relationships and people response to health and illness addressing biological, behavioral, social, and cultural domains. There is still a debate ongoing as to if nursing is and occupation or a profession because nursing was viewed as an occupation not a profession. I think it is a profession because of the characteristics of the nursing profession which is (1) a body of knowledge, (2) code of ethics, (3) recognized authority by a profession group, (4) a professional organization that sets standards, (5) a strong service orientation, (6) autonomy, (7) ongoing research. It is also a profession that is always evolving in academic discipline and a science. According to Schlotfeldt, 1989, a profession must also have and institutionalized goal or social mission

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