Where is nursing in academic nursing? disciplinary discourses, identities and clinical practice: a critical perspective from Ireland (original) (raw)
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What Lies Beneath? The Underlying Principles Structuring the Field of Academic Nursing in Ireland
Journal of Professional Nursing, 2010
This article reports the findings of a structural analysis of the field of academic nursing in Ireland and considers the implications of the field's current structure for its present status and future trajectory in the academy. Six years after preregistration nursing education transferred to the higher education sector, tensions continue to exist concerning the status and legitimacy of academic nursing and of those who profess to profess it. The languages of legitimation of senior nursing academics and national nursing leaders (n = 16) were elicited and subjected to a critical discourse analysis. Respondents' languages were analyzed in terms of the settings of four underlying structuring legitimation principles: autonomy, density, specialization, and temporality. Academic nursing in Ireland was found to be structured by low autonomy, high density, and weak specialization. I conclude that academic and professional leaders in Irish nursing need to urgently consider how academic nursing can reconfigure its relationships with clinical nursing, increase its intellectual autonomy, enhance its internal coherence and cohesiveness, strengthen the epistemic power of its knowledge base, and critically evaluate the ways in which past practices inform its present and whether and to what extent they should shape its future. (Index words: Academic field; Nursing; Ireland) J Prof Nurs 26:377-384, 2010.
The duality of professional practice in nursing: Academics for the 21st century
Nurse Education Today, 2011
Although pre-registration nursing in the United Kingdom (UK) is moving towards a graduate exit, the vocational/professional debate is still live and continues to be played out in both popular and professional literature. This study considers the nature of contemporary academic communities and the challenge of duality in professional nursing life. More than a decade after the move into Higher Education (HE) however the role of the academic is still controversial, with much of the debate focussed on the nature of clinical credibility. This article considers the dimensions of academic nursing, reports the views of academics and clinicians and introduces a model of working that could potentially harness and blend the skills of academics and clinicians, nurturing a culture of applied scholarship throughout the professional/academic journey.
Nursing academics' languages of legitimation: a discourse analysis
International journal of nursing studies, 2009
To identify the proclaimed bases of Irish nursing academics' identities as academics and to interrogate the ways in which they legitimate nursing as an academic discipline. Six years after pre-registration nursing education in Ireland transferred to the higher education sector, tensions continue to exist concerning the status and legitimacy of the discipline and those who claim to profess it. The languages of legitimation of senior nursing academics were elicited in the deliberately argumentative conversational context characteristic of many discourse analytic studies. These languages were analysed in terms of four of the building tasks of language: knowledge, politics, relationships and identities. Irish nursing academics are unable to credibly and convincingly resist representations of their discipline as lacking legitimacy in academia. Indeed, they themselves construct academic nursing as a fragmented field, prone to colonisation and subversion by a plethora of other discours...
“What are nurse academics for?” Intellectual craftsmanship in an age of instrumentalism
Nurse Education Today, 2013
I wish in this paper to deliberately engage in provocations (following Thompson and Watson, 2006 and Walker, 2009) on the subject of nursing as an academic and critical thinking discipline in the UK, but which may also resonate with colleagues elsewhere. My argument is that nursing as an academic discipline is, if not dead, then is in critical care and is so without an advanced directive. Thompson and Watson (2006) suggested that nursing professorships had ‘hit the iceberg’ (p. 125). Six years on, I suggest that various contemporary issues (see Box 1) including the quality of care on one hand and the individualised and instrumental vision of higher education on the other, call into serious question nursing's ability to be anything other than reactive to events and external drivers and in doing so it mirrors its historical handmaiden role to medicine. The Titanic metaphor continues. I further suggest that intellectual craftsmanship (Wright Mills, 1959) be (re)discovered and valued not just in
Journal of Clinical Nursing, 2020
Aim and objectives To explore the concept of 'clinical academic' from the perspectives of healthcare managers and research-active healthcare professionals outside medicine. Background Clinical academics are understood to be healthcare professionals who combine clinical and research responsibilities within their role. However, there is no agreed definition for this term either within or across nursing, midwifery and the other healthcare professions outside medicine. Design Qualitative service evaluation, reported using the COREQ checklist. Methods Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of eight healthcare managers and 12 research-active clinicians within a UK hospital group. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using the Framework method. Results Clinical academics were described in four themes. Two themes explored the components of the role and the contribution of these individuals to their profession: combining clinical practice, research and education; and pushing boundaries. The third theme identified the clinical academic label as: a title that doesn't fit. The final theme examined a characteristic mindset of research-active clinicians. There were no clear differences in the perceptions of managers and research-active clinicians. Conclusions Clinical academics were perceived as valuable members of their team and were able to push the boundaries to move their profession forward. Some research-active clinicians did not identify with the term 'clinical academic' and for some managers and research-active clinicians, the term was viewed as jargonistic. A clear and accepted definition would aid development of clinical academic career pathways and identities. It would also assist in evaluating the impact of these roles. Relevance to practice As clinical academics roles and opportunities are being developed across the professions outside medicine, it is important to have a shared common understanding of 'clinical academic' to support the creation of career pathways and curricula, and to enable the evaluation of these roles.
Critical analysis of the discourse of competence in professional nursing practice
2009
This project aims to provide a critical analysis of the discourse of competence in professional nursing practice, from an historical and contemporary perspective. Through the cultivation of critical thinking, I seek to identify how power operates within this discourse to shape nurse subjectivity. This critique aims to identify the conditions that construct classifications and differences as they relate to competence in nursing practice, and to provide a collection of rich knowledge, ideas and patterned ways of thinking, that seek to assist nurses to explore themselves within the discourse. Critical analysis of the discursive practices as effects of the discourse signifies how the nurse is positioned within the discourse and provides meaning behind the existence of the discourse. An analysis of the key findings will be presented along with a conclusion and recommendations for practice. Methodology and Theoretical Framework. The chosen methodology is a critical analysis of the discourse of competence that draws on theoretical techniques using a Foucauldian method of critique. The theoretical framework for this project draws on the writings of French Historian and Philosopher, Michel Foucault (1926-1984), regarded as the most influential thinker of our time. I have been guided by Penny Powers (2002), and Danaher, Schirato & Webb (2000) interpretation of Michel Foucault's works. Findings The nursing profession is committed to developing and maintaining practitioners that are competent in their field. This focus on competence is largely driven by the nursing professions commitment toward ensuring the health and safety of the consumers of health care. Although external forces largely shape nursing, it is also strongly influenced by its own practitioners, their vision, their confidence and their image of themselves. i Conclusion The discourse of competence in professional nursing practice is a product of professional ethics. Professional nursing competence continues to be shaped by historical and contemporary influences.