Title: 
Headings: 

Content: 10.7748/ns.17.46.33.s56
    
Abstract
        
      
Background: Nursing theory should provide the principles that underpin practice and help to generate further nursing knowledge. However, a lack of agreement in the professional literature on nursing theory confuses nurses and has caused many to dismiss nursing theory as irrelevant to practice. This article aims to identify why nursing theory is important in practice. Conclusion: By giving nurses a sense of identity, nursing theory can help patients, managers and other healthcare professionals to recognise the unique contribution that nurses make to the healthcare service (Draper 1990). Providing a definition of nursing theory also helps nurses to understand their purpose and role in the healthcare setting. Publication types
      
Review


              
MeSH terms
      
Attitude of Health Personnel


                  
                
Diffusion of Innovation


                  
                
Forecasting


                  
                
Humans


                  
                
Knowledge


                  
                
Models, Nursing


                  
                
Nurse's Role


                  
                
Nurses / psychology


                  
                
Nursing Care / methods*


                  
                
Nursing Care / psychology


                  
                
Nursing Care / standards


                  
                
Nursing Theory*


                  
                
Semantics