Benner’s Philosophy of Nursing

Benner’s Philosophy of Nursing

Benner’s Philosophy of Nursing is a model that is a combination of competencies, domains and skill acquisition. The combination describes how nursing expertise is formed. (Masters, 2015. pg.63).  Thirty-one competencies and seven domains were created from interviews and observations of nurses by Benner and her colleagues (Masters, 2015. pg.63). Later, nine more domains were added by extending Benner’s original research, which focused on critical care nursing (Masters, 2015. pg.63).

An empathic connection between nurse and patient is a basis of nursing practice because it is essentially important for a nurse to be able to understand not only a patient’s physical challenges but also emotional and spiritual needs. Empathy makes relationships between a nurse and a patient equal rather than hierarchical.

At the same time, it is also important to point out two elements of the relationships between a nurse and a patient; they are relationships of care and relationships of trust. Whereas care, in many ways, refers to attending to the physical needs of a patient that were caused by a medical condition, the component of relationships of trust relates to a patient’s spiritual and emotional life. Trusting relationships ensure that a patient is feeling comfortable at the hospital and is not suppressed by any of the circumstances in terms of risks of emotional discomfort.

The concept of cultural specifics of nursing care also relates to ensuring spiritual comfort for all patients by taking their cultural background into consideration when providing medical and nursing care.

Four meta paradigms of nursing
The conceptual basis for my personal nursing philosophy was designed on the basis of Patricia Benner’s theory of caring and clinical

wisdom, Madeleine Leininger’s transcultural nursing theory, Martha Rogers’ unitary human being theory, Jean Watson’s theory of human caring. Those models and theories created the basis for my personal interpretation of what current clinical practice should be alike. Firstly, Patria Benner’s approach to nursing ethics and caring formed the concept of an empathic connection between nurse and patient (Alligood, 2013).

Second of all, Martha Rogers’ unitary human being theory underlines the importance of a spiritual component of care (Alligood, 2013), whereas Jean Watson’s theory of human caring relies on the trust element in the relations between a patient and a nurse (Watson & Woodward, 2010). Thus, Madeleine Leininger’s transcultural nursing theory that refers to cultural specifics (Leininger, 2002), became a basis for the concept of cultural specifics of nursing care.