Philosophy and Science in a Practice Discipline

A nurse enters a patient’s room to check her vitals and spends some time talking with the patient’s family how they are doing.

Later that day, another nurse responds to the patient’s call button; she becomes concerned when she discovers that the patient is running a fever and is in pain despite receiving the medication that has been ordered for her. She recalls a similar instance with a different patient, and keeps that in mind as she asks the patient about how she is feeling.

These seemingly simple actions are guided by philosophy—each nurse’s view of nursing and appropriate patient care.

Do you, personally, think nursing should rely solely on biological science? Or do you think it is important for nursing to incorporate a broader, more holistic approach to care? How do you know what you know? What sources of information are most significant to you? How should you determine what types of research are applicable to nursing practice?

To prepare:

Reflect on your professional experiences, and assess how philosophy and science influences nursing practice.

Consider how the scientific method is supported by philosophy, and how it influences nursing knowledge.

post a cohesive response that addresses the following (1 TO 2 PAGES)

Why are philosophy and science important to a practice discipline?

How do they legitimize the nursing profession?

Provide examples from your nursing practice that demonstrate how the scientific method influences nursing knowledge.

Reference

McEwin, M., & Wills, E.M. (2014). Theoretical basis for nursing. (4th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer Health.

Chapter 1, “Philosophy, Science, and Nursing”

Chapter 1 introduces the scientific and philosophical foundations of nursing and how these contribute to knowledge development within the discipline of nursing.

Gray, J.R., Grove, S.K., & Sutherland, S. (2017). Burns and Grove’s the practice of nursing research: Appraisal, synthesis, and generation of evidence (8th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Saunders Elsevier.

Chapter 1, “Discovering the World of Nursing Research”

Chapter 1 introduces nursing research and discusses how science, theory, and philosophy all influence research.

Chapter 2, “Evolution of Research in Building Evidence-Based Nursing Practice”

Chapter 2 reviews the history of nursing research beginning with the work of Florence Nightingale and examines the influence of nursing research today on evidence-based practice.

Moran, K., Burson, R., & Conrad, D. (2017). The doctor of nursing practice scholarly project: A framework for success (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Chapter 1, “Setting the Stage for the Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Project”

Chapter 5, “The phenomenon of Interest”

Chapter 6, “Developing the Scholarly Project”