Theory-Practice Gap - Research Paper Example

This writing will focus on various measures proposed through which the gap between nursing theoretical frame work and practice can be decreased. Body According to a study conducted by Rolfe, the gap between the theory and practice of nursing is majorly caused because theorists of nursing arena have failed to take into account the real life practices of nurses and health care settings (Rolfe, 1993). He further stated that in order to decrease this gap the theorists need to identify and analyze different nursing situations that take place in real life and base their theories on these situations.

He went further to develop a praxis in which what ever happens in practice of nursing is first identified and applied to theory and then theory is created, the created theory is learned in nursing educational settings by nursing students and then applied to real life situations when students transform into practitioners. According to Levin, the gap between nursing theory and practice can be decreased by allowing a clinical practitioner to guide nursing students while they perform practical tasks during their educational sessions (Levin, 2010).

Levin further states that the gap between theory and practice can be reduced by altering the learning and teaching system to constructivist approach while students are under the process of clinical practice educational sessions. When this approach is followed students gain new knowledge by gaining information from the past and present. When this kind of learning approach is applied to the field of nursing, nursing students gain experience by doing what they have learned or learn by doing. Sellman states that the gap between theory and practice is created not by theorists or by students, it is created by the authorities who do not allow the students to practice what they have learned through theory (Sellman, 2010).

Sellman suggests that in order to decrease the gap between theory and actual practice, practitioners will have to work according to the situation and have to experience that they do not need to rely on theoretical work in order to practice. This means that nursing students should not try to locate the rationale behind a particular incident taking place; instead they should focus on the cause and effect of practice. While practicing, they should not apply theory, instead they should learn through experience.

Wilson in a report named Bridging the theory practice gap states that nursing students experience a gap between what they have learned and what they are practicing because they do not apply what they learn during their educational settings (Wilson, 2008). For this purpose Wilson proposed that while students are under the learning stage they should practice and they should be allowed to practice as nurses. While they will be practicing they will learn through experience and continuous communication with other nursing staff will assist them in gaining more knowledge.

This means that students should be allowed to practice with senior nurses as this will help them learn more as they observe other practitioners. This will even assist the health care settings in having enough nursing staff while the demand for nurses are high. Brake in her study states that the gap between nursing practice and theory is caused because nursing students do not attend any other educational arenas other than their own educational setti