Revolution of Nursing Science in the Next Decade

Abstract

Knowing a history of nursing science allows nurses to understand the journey of nursing theorists and scientists in developing the nursing science. Since the era of Florence Nightingale in the mid-18th century, the nursing theories and nursing research were published to the public, particularly scientific community. During late 18th and 19th century, there were many interesting questions among these debates that have not been answer yet, such as is it a nursing science or science of nursing? and is it a pure science or applied science? Even though the scientific community acknowledges that nursing is known as a science, many scholars remain to discuss the definition and category of nursing science. 
 
 Along the history of nursing knowledge development, nursing scholars faced many challenges concerning the difficulty to develop the required content for nursing practices, to be an excellent discipline in the developing science base, to prepare nurse researchers, and to disseminate research results to the community and to the public (Hinshaw, 1989). Nowadays nursing science is entering into the postmodern era and it will be continued development in the next decade. Even if nurses do not recognise that nursing knowledge is currently in crisis, looking for the future of nursing science throughout the principle of Kuhn’s paradigm shift might provide valuable direction for nurse. Therefore, this paper aims to explain Kuhn’s revolutionary theory and its principle. Moreover, the influence of Kuhn’s revolution theory on the revolution of nursing science that will be present in this paper.

The Importance of Paradigms in the Philosophy of Nursing Science

“…Kuhn (1996), "Bilimin evriminde, yeni bilgi, uyumsuz başka türden bilginin yerini almaktansa, cehaletin yerini alacaktır" demiştir. Bu nedenle, bilimsel düşüncenin evrimi, geçmiş bilimsel paradigmaları yok etmez ve çürütmez, ancak bilim adamlarının daha yüksek bir seviyeye veya bilimin büyümesine izin verir (1,8).…”

“…Bilimsel topluluk, hemşireliği bir bilim olarak kabul etse de birçok bilim insanı hemşirelik biliminin tanımını ve kapsamını tartışmaya devam etmiştir (1).…”

Revisiting the nursing metaparadigm: Acknowledging technology as foundational to progressing nursing knowledge

“…While nursing may integrate technology within the domain of the person, this suggests accommodation of technology when mandated for care. Rather, technology is an ever‐evolving aspect of patient care that requires continuing nursing education (Tulyakul & Meepring, 2021). The rate of technological innovation and the rate of technological decay (outdatedness) threaten to out‐pace nursing education's ability to include specific technological models or programs in nursing curricula.…”

“…Policies shaping nursing scope are also impacted by technology, such as the delegation of nursing duties to humanoid robots (Locsin & Ito, 2018). Nursing voice in policy development and research are increasingly critical to evaluate the ethical, legal, and professional implications of technology on nursing practice (Tulyakul & Meepring, 2021).…”

“…This cycle of new knowledge generation supplants the current metaparadigm by allowing relationships between technology and person, environment, health, and nursing itself. These connections, instead of integrations with technology, foster changes in the paradigm of what a nurse “is” in relation to innovation and entrepreneurship (Tulyakul & Meepring, 2021).…”