Nursing knowledge is the heritage of all professionals

Antonio Arribas Cachá

Abstract

On some occasions, and in some professional forums, it has been possible to raise the possibility that only certain groups of nursing professionals, based mainly on their postgraduate academic qualifications, could be the only ones to be represented and constitute the benchmarks of knowledge for our profession as a whole.

In relation to this position, which I consider of great relevance for our profession, I would like to contribute my thoughts in this editorial.

As a basic starting point, I consider that the academic and professional development currently available to nursing in Spain, both through postgraduate university education and through nursing specialties or the professional career in health care, has been possible thanks to the contribution and joint work of all the professionals who have joined forces over many years, so that these achievements should never serve as a basis for limiting the contribution of any professional to the common disciplinary knowledge of nursing.

On the contrary, I believe that these achievements should be used in a positive way, joining efforts among all, and providing a new added value in the achievement of the goals set by our profession, always at the service of the health of the population, promoting our work through recognition and social support.

However, I also consider that this approach could have a very negative impact on the evolution of nursing and its professionals, especially taking into account the characteristics that define knowledge in nursing, which I will try to explain.

Understanding the concept of knowledge as the "profound knowledge available in a science or an art", if applied to the field of nursing, it can be easily deduced that nursing knowledge is constituted by the "body of knowledge existing in nursing science for the safe and efficient care of the individual, the family, the group and/or the community".

In relation to this concept of nursing knowledge, it must be taken into account that nursing is a practical discipline, whose ultimate objective is the offer and development in reality of services to the population, in this case in the form of health services in the form of attention to the needs of care essential for the life and well-being of people.

For this reason, as it is a practical discipline, the exclusive generation of knowledge alone is not enough in nursing to fulfill its objective. It is necessary to put this knowledge into practice, which is why it is necessary to always refer to the object of nursing knowledge, fixed on safe and efficient care. Nursing knowledge is the know-how or practical knowledge of nursing.

This body of knowledge of nursing science is what constitutes nursing's "body of knowledge", one of the key elements in the definition of a discipline, together with the existence of its own framework of competencies, and which in this case allows nursing to be considered as such.

This nursing knowledge is constituted by the accumulation of contrasted knowledge, generated by professionals in the development of their research work, as well as those generated in the development of their care work.

It is not trivial to remember at this time the compendium of science and art that makes up the essence and practice of nursing, constituting the compendium of theoretical scientific knowledge, generated by research, and practical knowledge generated by the work experiences of the nurses who establish the know-how to do in certain situations.

Subsequently, this knowledge must be classified, organized and disseminated so that it can be available to the professional in the exercise of his or her work, always taking into account the new technological paradigm that influences all areas of our society.

For this reason, I consider that nursing knowledge is the heritage and responsibility of all nursing professionals.

All professionals can generate knowledge derived from study and/or experience, through contrasted systems that guarantee the reliability of the results obtained, and must disseminate and contribute it for the benefit of the entire profession and the population using our services.

Antonio Arribas Cachá.