Interpretation of the concept ‘nursing’: Utilisation in nursing education and practice

BACKGROUND: Nursing developed over centuries. Changing practice and education influenced its interpretation and understanding. Its meaning and interpretation may differ amongst education institutions, nurse educators and nurses, particularly student nurses. OBJECTIVES: The objective was to develop a visual concept map of the concept of ‘nursing’, allowing nursing education institutions to have a similar approach and understanding in teaching the concept to student nurses. METHOD: The research design was qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual. A self-designed, pretested online questionnaire collected data from various categories of nurse participants. An integrative review viewed literature sources published between 2006 and 2016 accessing definitions of ‘nursing’. Data analysis involved thematic analysis of narrative data, data coding processes, interpretation and synthesis of data and further analysis using a systematic concept analysis process. The combined analysed data merged, developing a visual concept map of ‘nursing’. Expert nurse educators validated the visual concept map of ‘nursing’ by e-Delphi technique, using an assessment rubric. RESULTS: Various definitions of ‘nursing’ revealed identified themes and categories underpinning the concept. After formulation of connotative, denotative definitions and empirical referents, a visual concept map of ‘nursing’ was developed and validated to be an educational tool to facilitate the teaching of the concept of ‘nursing’, enhancing a similar understanding and interpretation thereof. CONCLUSION: A visual concept map of ‘nursing’, a tool facilitating teaching the concept and promoting similar understanding of its meaning is valuable in an evolving digital era, where visual stimulation enhances teaching and learning. CONTRIBUTION: The primary contribution of the manuscript provided a developed visual concept map of ‘nursing’, to use as a tool to stimulate critical thinking and integrate the various aspects outlined in the map. The visual concept map of ‘nursing’ assists in the education and training of all categories of nurses in the profession, especially student nurses, aiming to support better patient outcomes when the concept of nursing is understood and interpreted in the same way.