Advertisement
Clinical practice column: the clinical narrative| Volume 18, ISSUE 6, P441-443, December 2003

Clinical leadership in action: Lionel’s story

      Box 1
      This column is evolving. In addition to evidence-based practice articles, we have been receiving a variety of other clinical practice submissions, such as clinical narratives and case studies. To encourage and to highlight a wide array of innovative and informative clinical articles, we are changing this column title to: Clinical Practice Column. We welcome your submissions and your feedback!
      In many clinical settings, nurses are encouraged to write clinical narratives as part of their annual performance review or for professional advancement. Narratives can serve as examples or “exemplars” of level of nursing expertise. Patricia Benner’s research has shown how nurses’ clinical narratives can be used to demonstrate stages of nursing clinical development: from beginner to expert (
      • Benner P
      The role of experience, narrative and community in skilled ethical comportment.
      ). Please visit the Benner Associates website for valuable information about the “how tos” of writing clinical narratives: http://home.earthlink.net/∼bennerassoc/instructions.html.
      Clinical narratives are also nurses’ stories. We can learn through each others’ stories of how we think, act, and feel in relation to our patients. In the following article, Ms. Cathcart illuminates the importance of a nurse’s story—how it is an example of clinical nursing expertise as defined by the Benner model of novice to expert.
      To read this article in full you will need to make a payment

      Purchase one-time access:

      Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online access
      One-time access price info
      • For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
      • For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'

      References

        • Benner P
        The role of experience, narrative and community in skilled ethical comportment.
        Advances in Nursing Science. 1991; 14: 1-21
        • Benner P
        From novice to expert. Excellence and power in clinical nursing practice. Commemorative Edition. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ2001
        • Benner P
        • Hooper-Kyriakydis P
        • Stannard D
        Clinical wisdom and interventions in critical care. A thinking-in-action approach. W.B. Saunders, Philadelphia, PA1999