The visibility of the discipline on the websites of academic nursing schools

Measuring visibility of disciplines on Chinese academic web

This study proposes a hierarchy affiliation model (department–school–university) to build network between web entities taking into account the domain names, the topological structure of academic network and the disciplinary characteristics of schools and universities synthetically. The study of the Chinese academic web based on the model shows that at the school level, 68 of 95 disciplines (71.6%) are identified from the directed school network and 71 from the undirected school network, respectively; at the university level, four out of seven broad disciplines are found. Furthermore, according to the comparative result based on three types of relations (hyperlinks, citations and collaborations) among universities, we would like to argue with cautions that the structure on academic web would potentially be more suitable to trace the interests in common between institutions.

Discursive constructions of professional identity in policy and regulatory discourse

AIM

To examine and describe disciplinary discourses conducted through professional policy and regulatory documents in nursing and midwifery in Ireland.

BACKGROUND

A key tenet of discourse theory is that group identities are constructed in public discourses and these discursively constructed identities become social realities. Professional identities can be extracted from both the explicit and latent content of discourse. Studies of nursing's disciplinary discourse have drawn attention to a dominant discourse that confers nursing with particular identities, which privilege the relational and affective aspects of nursing and, in the process, marginalize scientific knowledge and the technical and body work of nursing.

DESIGN

We used critical discourse analysis to analyse a purposive sample of nursing and midwifery regulatory and policy documents.

METHOD

We applied a four-part, sequential approach to analyse the selected texts. This involved identifying key words, phrases and statements that indicated dominant discourses that, in turn, revealed latent beliefs and assumptions. The focus of our analysis was on how the discourses construct professional identities.

FINDINGS

Our analysis indicated recurring narratives that appeared to confer nurses and midwives with three dominant identities: "the knowledgeable practitioner," the "interpersonal practitioner" and the "accountable practitioner." The discourse also carried assumptions about the form and content of disciplinary knowledge.

CONCLUSIONS

Academic study of identity construction in discourse is important to disciplinary development by raising nurses' and midwives' consciousness, alerting them to the ways that their own discourse can shape their identities, influence public and political opinion and, in the process, shape public policy on their professions.

Philosophical and theoretical content of the nursing discipline in academic education: A critical interpretive synthesis

BACKGROUND

Nursing as clinical practice, management and research are based on nursing philosophy and theory. Thus, the philosophical and theoretical content is required to be incorporated in academic education in order to enable nurses' skills for reflection, analysis, and thinking about the profession.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this review was to describe what is known of the philosophical and theoretical content of the nursing discipline within academic education.

DESIGN

A critical interpretive synthesis (CIS).

METHODS

Electronic searches were performed across four databases, CINAHL, Scopus, Medline, and Web of Science, for papers published in English from 1980 to 2016. The selection of original articles was based on stages, and inclusion and exclusion criteria were used. Quality of the selected papers were evaluated by method sensitive appraisal criteria. The five phases of CIS were used to combine the selected data.

RESULTS

The searches resulted 9148 titles, whereas 13 were selected. Nurses need philosophical and theoretical education in order to be aware of human health and explain the complexity of the human experience of illness. The philosophy of science, the philosophy of care, and theory development were highlighted as the key contents in nursing academic education as these subjects are central to the discipline that ensures that nurses acquire advanced skills. A model was developed that linked disciplinary issues the progression nursing science through the influence of advanced skills.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on the findings in this study the philosophical and theoretical content of nursing discipline crates a basis for the academic education and enables a professional and exclusive vision for nurses. It provides an overall understanding of people's lives and support nurses to achieve deeper awareness of the meaning of illness and health in a person lifespan what is needed on the evidence-based decision making.

Philosophical inquiry and the goals of nursing: a critical approach for disciplinary knowledge development and action

Philosophical inquiry remains critically important for nursing education, practice, and knowledge development. We propose a 3-level taxonomy of philosophical inquiry to guide nursing curricula and research development. Important background information about philosophy and the development of philosophical methods is given. Then philosophical inquiry is linked to the goals of nursing using our proposed taxonomy: level I-cultivating an attitude of "critical consciousness" related to all nursing situations and actions, level II-analysis and application of philosophical perspectives to nursing problems and level III-generating new knowledge for nursing purposes including new theories of practice and research.