The nursing process: from development to implementation

Abstract

This paper summarizes the research study carried out in 1979 as part of an MSc. The study has two purposes: to analyse, in sociological terms, the nursing process development and to understand whether it can make a practical contribution to nursing. The concept of the nursing process emerged in the United States during the 1960s. Its content was shaped by the American context. It was transferred subsequently to the United Kingdom in a limited form, modified to accommodate a different context; thus, it is not just a theoretical concept but an ideology in the technical sense as well. As a method of practice, the study shows that the nursing process is not fully implemented either in the US or in the UK. However, it does represent an important step forward in nursing in that it has made real analytical gains. The findings of the study serve to identify some of the problems that must be tackled if the theory is to be turned into practice.