Letters to the Editor

摘要

Thank you for publishing the thought provoking article, "Influences on Advancement of Nursing Knowledge" by Fawcett and Alligood (2005). It was refreshing to read a common sense and balanced discourse related to the challenges of educating nurses about the value, importance, and utility of nursing theory. Many of the points made in this piece resonated with questions and concerns that are frequently expressed by graduate nursing students enrolled in the theory course that I teach. For example, students question the usefulness of theory and often voice frustration with what they perceive to be the sometimes convoluted vernacular of theory, which is further complicated by related terms and definitions that vary from theorist to theorist and from textbook to textbook. No doubt some students seem to have an aversion to theory, but I believe that students are more intimidated than put off by the subject and related concepts. Unfortunately, graduate students as well as nurses at the bedside often perceive nursing theory as part of an ivory tower mentality based on an exclusive, esoteric language that is difficult to understand, let alone apply to real life and everyday practice.