How to Enhance the Use of Theory in Clinical Nursing Practice Settings

Experienced nurses will tell you that during their first year or two in a clinical setting, they learned many things that weren't taught in the classroom. That's because clinical nursing theory doesn't cover all the real-life situations a practicing nurse will encounter--especially in emergency rooms and acute care settings. Great nurses make just as much use of the lessons of experience as they do from book learning. However, after years of practice and experience, nurses can lose touch with the important basics they were taught in school. Medical facilities benefit by encouraging clinical theory integration.

Instructions

• 1

  Offer free, on-site continuing education courses focused on various aspects of nursing theory. Nurses in every state need continuing education units to maintain their licenses. Hospitals, outpatient surgery centers, skilled nursing facilities and clinics can make it easy for their nurses to do required coursework by offering classes managers feel are important--such as elements of nursing theory.

• 2

  Review patient charts and cases with nurses and ask them about their clinical reasoning for the actions they take. Nurse managers can use their moments of checking in with their staffs as opportunities to encourage clinical thinking, including considerations of clinical pathways, critical thinking and medical knowledge.

• 3

  Discuss current and recent challenging patient cases at staff meetings. Ask all nurses on shift for their thoughts and input on cases. Nurse managers and shift supervisors can lead discussions on different viewpoints as the group parses through the clinical issues of a case. Discussion leaders should emphasize use of nursing theory and clinical reasoning. In many cases, nurses will challenge each other and come up with effective new ideas.

• 4

  Post signs and fliers in break rooms and work areas that remind nurses about key aspects of nursing theory. For example, hang a poster reminding nurses of the "ABCs of Nursing" (Ref 1) emphasizing the order of prioritization and concern for patient conditions--airway, breathing and circulation. A poster on nursing ethics or scope of practice might also be useful and appropriate.

• 5

  Distribute copies of recent nursing journal articles to staff members. Nurses usually welcome free information on issues of theory, including advances and changes in approaches to nursing. They often find it difficult to keep up with the many professional nursing publications and appreciate when someone supports their becoming better nurses.