nursology

nursology

[nursol′əjē]

Etymology: L, nutrix, nurse; Gk, logos, science

a conceptual framework for the study and practice of nursing. It requires the nurse to interact with the patient in an "authentic" way, without aloofness and the distance of professionalism; the nurse must take the risk of caring. As a method, nursology requires that the nurse cut through the defenses and fears that prevent self-knowledge. The nurse tries to know the patient on an intuitive, subjective level and then, using reflection, on an objective, scientific level. The nurse recognizes that each person has an "angular view" of the whole truth. Comparison of the views of others is necessary for a perspective that allows a synthesis, often paradoxic but closer to the truth than any one person's angular view. Nursology is intended to provide a model for nursing methods and research. The nurse and the patient have the opportunity to grow, and the science of nursing may emerge from the "angular" investigations and syntheses.