NURS 2730 Study Guide - Summer 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Nursing, Glossary Of Contract Bridge Terms, Canada
NURS 2730
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
FOUNDATIONS READINGS
WEEK 8
What is philosophy?
• Every person has their on philosophy
o Set beliefs an assumptions
• Scientific discipline
• Philosophical thinking can assist in
o Identifying and questioning assumptions
o Clarifying how concepts are used and how they have meaning
o Assessing arguments made to defend or critique particular ways of thinking
Three Primary Areas of Inquiry
• Ontology
o Nature of being
o What is the nature of reality? What is the meaning of our existence?
• Epistemology
o Nature of knowledge
o What are the limits of knowledge? How do we know something?
• Ethics
o Nature of moral conduct and judgement
o What is good? How should people judge the actions of others?
World Views and Paradigms
• World View
o Way of thinking based on a specific set of beliefs, values, assumptions
o Each persons world view influences how they perceive and interpret the world
o Shapes understanding of events
• Assumptions
o Operate unconsciously and are beliefs that are taken for granted without evidence
o Many social arrangements rest on assumptions
• Nursing is "women's work" relies on assumption that certain kinds of work are
more appropriate for men/women
• Based on woman's capacity for natural nurturing and caring
• Paradigm
o A way of organizing knowledge according to philosophical assumptions
o Empiricist paradigm
• A single reality exists independently of our knowledge of it
• The world exists separately from human knowers
• Knowledge is obtained by means of the scientific method
▪ By comparing knowledge claims against this independently existing
reality
• It is possible to produce objective knowledge of the world
o Interpretive paradigm
• No single fixed reality against which knowledge can be measured
• Knowledge of the world independent of theorizing about it is not possible
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• Knowledge of the world is always mediated through assumptions
Philosophy in Nursing
• Essential feature of all scientific discipline
• Enables nurses to further understand their values, beliefs, assumptions and knowledge that
constitute the discipline
• “Philosophical inquiry about nursing’s social and humanitarian roles, its form of thought,
nature, scope, purpose, methods, language, moral presuppositions, and knowledge claims”
• Main goals;
o Identifies central phenomena of the discipline (metaparadigm)
o Relates nursing to a particular paradigm
o Will offer some criteria concerning knowledge development in the discipline
• Scientific inquiry is the predominant mode of inquiry in Nursing
o Science cannot answer some nursing questions
o Scientific inquiry is targeted toward material world,
Concepts and Theories
• Philosophical thinking provides foundation for the development and critical analysis or
nursing knowledge
• Nursing knowledge organized using
o Concepts
• Abstract ideas or mental images
• Words that bring forth mental pictures
• Can be
▪ Readily observable - concrete (rash, thermometer, lesion)
▪ Indirectly observable - inferential (pain, temperature)
▪ Non-observable - abstract (equilibrium, stress, etc.)
• Many concepts apply to nursing
▪ Helping relationships
▪ Health
• Metaparadigm - a higher level of abstraction (identifies concepts central to the
discipline without relating them to assumptions of a particular paradigm)
▪ Person or Client (recipient of nursing care)
▪ Environment (internal and external surroundings of client
▪ Health (degree of wellness)
▪ Nursing (attributes, actions and characteristics of the nurse)
o Theories
• Supposition or system of ideas that is proposed to explain a given phenomenon
o Models
o Frameworks
• A conceptual framework is a group of related concepts which provides an
overall view to focus thoughts
Frameworks, Concepts and Theories: Direction for Nursing Practice
• Conceptual frameworks give direction to the three areas of nursing
o Practice
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
What is philosophy: every person has their on philosophy, set beliefs an assumptions, scientific discipline, philosophical thinking can assist in. Identifying and questioning assumptions: clarifying how concepts are used and how they have meaning, assessing arguments made to defend or critique particular ways of thinking. It is possible to produce objective knowledge of the world. Interpretive paradigm: no single fixed reality against which knowledge can be measured, knowledge of the world independent of theorizing about it is not possible, knowledge of the world is always mediated through assumptions. Philosophy in nursing: essential feature of all scientific discipline, enables nurses to further understand their values, beliefs, assumptions and knowledge that constitute the discipline. Philosophical inquiry about nursing"s social and humanitarian roles, its form of thought, nature, scope, purpose, methods, language, moral presuppositions, and knowledge claims : main goals; Conceptualization of nursing, health, environment and human beings.
