Patricia Benner's Nursing Career

Do you think the amount of knowledge and the amount of time you work as a nurse distinguishes what level of a nurse you are? Well, Patricia Benner a well known theorist that published From Novice to Expert uses that theory to place you at a level where you should be each year of your nursing career. “In 1964 Patricia Benner obtained her baccalaureate of arts degree from Pasadena college, and in 1970 she earned a master’s degree in nursing, with major emphasis in medical-surgical nursing, from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Nursing” (Alligood, 2014, p. 120). Also, she finished her “PhD in stress, coping, and health in 1982 at the University of California, Berkley, and her dissertation was published in 1984” (Alligood, 2014, p. 120). “Benner has a wide experience of clinical background experience, including positions in acute medical-surgical, critical care, and home health care” (Alligood, 2014, p. 120). After several years of teaching she “retired from full-time teaching in 2008 as professor emerita from UCSF, but continues to be involved in presentations and consultation, as well as writing and research projects. She is currently a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Seattle University School of Nursing, assisting them with a transformation of their undergraduate and graduate curricula” (Alligood, 2014, p. 121). Since Benner became a nurse she has won many different awards and honors throughout her career, but the biggest and the latest was that, “in 2011 the American Academy of Nursing honored her as a Living Legend” (Alligood, 2014, p. 121). “Benner acknowledges that her thinking in nursing has been influenced greatly by Virginia Henderson. Benner studies clinical nursing practice in an at...

... middle of paper ...

...the nurses are showing more confidence and less anxiety. They are able to see there day as a whole instead of seeing it as steps. They are able to have “much more involvement with the patient and family. The proficient stage is a transition into expertise” (Alligood, 2014, p. 125). The fifth and final stage in Benner’s model is expert. Becoming an expert nurse can take a long time, usually after five or more years. Being an expert nurse you see and do things differently than any other nurse. You do not go by the set of rules that were given to you; you use your judgment and expertise to guide you through your day. You are able to go into a patient’s room and see the patient as a whole, and are able to tell if there is something wrong with them without looking at the vitals or tests. You use the vitals and tests to back up your observations and your findings.