Application of Benner’s Novice to Expert Theory in Nursing Practice
Being a unique profession, the nursing practice is attributed to top-notch experience from knowledge development and a span of professional growth. Like most scientific professions, nursing is backed up on theories that seek to provide the necessary framework, assessment, and recognition of the practice from different points of view. According to Munro (2019), one of the most critical theories in the nursing field is Benner’s novice to expert theory. Patricia Benner, the novice to expert theory founder, carried out intense research of ways to attain proficiency and experience as an essential in the nursing practice. Therefore, by employing Benner’s novice to expert theory, it outlines the necessity of education, leadership and management, and nursing practice to achieve competence. This paper discusses Benner’s novice to expert theory and its application in the nursing practice.
Benner’s novice to expert theory is more inclined to skill acquisition, practical knowledge, clinical knowledge and experience achieved over some time. It asserts that as a nursing practitioner progresses through the different levels of the theory, there are evident changes in one’s skills, performance, and expertise (Munro, 2019). This is validated through Patricia Benner’s novice to the expert theory, where she develops skills and knowledge through education and overtime experiences. She is deeply rooted in different domains that shape nursing practice, including teaching and coaching functions, effective management of multifaceted situations, diagnostics client monitoring function, administration and motoring regimes, workforce and organization competencies, and quality health care practices (Munro, 2019). These theoretical concepts are deployed in different practice sectors where the practitioners are compelled to adhere to active prerequisite skills. Benner’s theory in the understanding practice helps the nurses identify the necessary frameworks that help them move the levels of the practice and acquire the knowledge, skills, and experience from the novice to expert (Munro, 2019). Benner believed in the ability of the nurses to progress through the stages from novice to expert when accorded sufficient time and focus.
Benner’s Novice to Expert
Dr. Patricia Benner introduced the novice to expert model in 1982 to analyze the nurse’s skills and patient understanding over time. It was derived from the Dreyfus model of skill acquisition and modified to provide a more detailed Assessment of the nursing practices. The model is divided into five models: novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient, and expert (Munro, 2019). Below as the different levels a nursing practitioner undergoes in the process of becoming an expert in the practice.
The five stages of clinical competence
Stage 1: Novice
Firstly, the novice stage, whereby the individual is not exposed to the previous experience of the situation at hand, acts as an introduction stage whereby the nurses are taught the practice basics (Munro, 2019). At this stage, the students work under the clear guidance of an instructor. Although notably, the nurses related to the theoretical aspects of clinical practice, the educators are tasked with imparting and integrating this knowledge to actual patient and healthcare practices (Munro, 2019). According to Benner, nurses at the novice level need to be taught about the patient’s condition to recognize features in any situation. The educators adopt strict rules to ensure that the nursing practice is governed since they have no prior practice experience.
Stage 2: Advanced beginner
This is the second stage of Benner’s novice to expert theory. According to the nursing theories, in this stage, the new graduates are often involved in the performance of less technical experiences. An advance beginner relates to the theoretical aspects of the practice with actual events though in a narrower scope (Oshvandi et al., 2016). The nurses begin to recognize significant components attributed to past experiences for the advanced beginner as they begin to formulate guiding principles.
Stage 3; Competent
The third level of Benner’s novice to expert theory is competence. In the competent stage, it is usually a nurse who has gained at least two years of experience doing similar day to day operations as he or she has to obtain competence and identify his or her long-range goals. Nurses usually have long-term goals, pushing limits to gain perspective and plan their actions obtaining more efficiency (Oshvandi et al., 2016). It is a pertinent stage as it establishes perspective improves one’s organization.
Proficient
In this stage, the nurse relies on principles guidelines in situations whereby they need to determine actions. According to Munro (2019), the proficient nurse at this stage perceives situations wholly rather than in terms of aspects. Benner articulates that at this stage, the nurse presents him or herself more articulately with improving decision making and holistic approach the ability to modify plans where the need is to situations through relations to past experiences the clinical situations.
Expert
Nurses at the expert level have a more profound background of experience in practice; thus, their performance becomes more fluid, highly proficient, and flexible. According to Benner, at this stage, the nurse has a better understanding and deeper connection to situations and does not rely on analytic principles but rather an intuitive grasp of situations to determine the appropriate actions (Munro, 2019). As a result, they become more proficient, fluid, and flexible with highly skilled analytical tools. Through the levels, Benner identifies the importance of professional development programs, nursing education, and nursing theories models to ensure that those in the nursing practice develop the necessary perception and experiences during their service (Munro, 2019). Additionally, Benner’s novice to expert model fosters individualized nursing development and perceptions essential in the nursing practice.
Advanced practice
Advanced practice is a stage where the nurse holds the responsibilities and skills to perform primary care giver condition and disease management, develop differential diagnosis, perform comprehensive physical examination and obtain health histories of patients, result interpretation maintaining patient records, and conducting patient referrals and more actively inveigled in research studies (Woo et al., 2017). As an advanced practice nurse, one possesses good communication skills, improved decision making, empathy, scientific aptitude and become a continual learner.
Functions of the Novice Versus an Advanced Nurse
The advanced and the novice nurse perform different functions. The novice nurse is often involved in checks such as the blood pressure, output, weight, among other measurable parameters. The advanced nurse performs physical examination, diagnosis of the patient which often leads to developmental, functional, phycological or laboratory tests (Woo et al., 2017). Additionally, the novice nurse often learns the protocols and rules observed in the practice and since they are beginners are not involved in making ad critical care and discretionary judgments, an advanced nurse is more knowledgeable and can make interpretations and diagnosis while maintaining the records of the patients. The advanced nurse takes on more complex tasks as compared to the novice nurse (Woo et al., 2017). This is because they have prior experience of working in similar situations on day-to-day basis and have developed competence and experience while the novice is the introductory stage of learning.
Relate Benner’s theory in the NMBA standards of practice
According to the Nurse and Midwifery Board adheres to some of the provision and guidelines of the Benner’s novice to expert theory that governs the practice. They do so in different ways as discussed below:
Application in NMBA education
Benner’s novice to expert theory has been integrated with nursing education in different levels of nursing competency. Through this, nurses are introduced to concepts of performance characteristics and needs in their processions through various developmental stages. By understanding the importance of the skills and achievement of various competency levels, the nurses, through their careers s learn to respond to different cues depending on their years of experience (Bamford-Wade, 2020). The step-by-step process allows the practitioners to gain more knowledge over time. Furthermore, simulators’ adoption is an efficient instrumental training tool employed in these steps to provide advanced skills, especially in the novice stage (Oshvandi, 2016). In the advanced beginners, it imparts self-confidence and the belief in relying on their skills. Many nursing schools have incorporated Benner’s novice to expert philosophy to shape skill acquisition as per the requirements for developing their nursing curriculum. And for the institutions that have adopted the philosophy have witnessed a positive transformation in the skill acquiring and competency among their practitioners (Munro, 2019). Its application in nursing education comes in handy to help nursing practices develop skills and knowledge through experience.
Application in leadership
Notably, Benner’s novice to expert theory has been adopted in the nursing practice and vastly applicable in leadership and management. The expert nurses lead by example through risk tasking, being social models mentors, thus influencing those in practice to pick up leadership development skills. Additionally, the experts are actively involved in less experienced nursing by steering them to learn how to interpret situations better, thus fostering efficacy and effectiveness in matters performance (Munro, 2019). The expert nurses are naturally leadership shaped through the novice to expert theory who have achieved self-direction and breakthrough in their performance through the profession. Secondly, the novice to expert theory is an essential element in nursing management (Munro, 2019). The theory explains the importance of nursing management that entails assessing practitioners and managers to ensure they gain competencies n their respective areas of performance.
Application in the nursing practice.
The Benner novice to expert theory has been tributed to the improved guidance of the nurse practiced by influencing innovative changes. Through her view of the practice, her research and philosophy have transformed the view of the practice with more emphasis on the nature of the practice, imparting knowledge that has been used in practice models and the increased advances in nursing research. Furthermore, her research has been used extensively in nursing career development, clinical judgment, understanding perceptual acuity, ethical compartment, and improved experimental learning (Oshvandi, 2016). Moreover, in the practice, Benner’s theory has been actively used to create foundations, skills acquisition, and improved nursing experience. Notably, Banner’s theory had been used to improve patient care the improved guidance to improve optimally.
The novice to expert model has come in handy today in the health care realm that has helped develop leadership programs, mentorship programs, and increased nurse retention. Therefore, it is safe to say that the model has imparted beneficial practices in the healthcare realm. Through skill acquisitions and knowledge through the progress in each stage of the levels, fostering improved patient outcomes reduces role stoles (Munro, 2019). Work-friendly environments as each player n adequately prepared for their positions, the training, mental being it in practice, managerial and administration flows smoothly ad result of the acquired trainer and guidance form the novice to expert model.
Conclusion
In Patricia Benner’s Novice to Expert theory, she discusses the importance of the theory to nurses on how they must acquire the nursing skills and the necessary experiences that equip them to become experts. He emphasizes the importee of each stage that helps the nurse build up skills to expertise while being direly dependent on the previous steps. The theory focuses on the five levels of the theory, novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient, and expert. Through these levels, the nurse moves from being under guidance to recognizing components that recur, adopting critical thinking, and finally becoming an expert with vast knowledge of the practice/ this makes one efficient in responding to situations effectively. The theory emphasizes the importance of long term and ongoing career development in helping the practitioner tackle the competent of the practice.
References
Bamford-Wade, A., Lavender, S., Massey, D., Anderson, V., Clayton, S., & Johnston, A. (2020). A case study-Implementing a registered nurse professional recognition program across a Queensland hospital and health service. Nurse education in practice, 42, 102689.
Munro, J. (2019, May). Applying Benner’s ‘novice to expert theory in wound care nursing higher education and practice: protocol for a qualitative multimethod research study to explore the broader effects of organizational policy enactment. In TVS 2019–The Conference.
Oshvandi, K., Moghadam, A. S., Khatiban, M., Cheraghi, F., Borzu, R., & Moradi, Y. (2016). On the application of novice to expert theory in nursing; a systematic review. Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, 9(4), 3014-3020.
Woo, B. F. Y., Lee, J. X. Y., & San Tam, W. W. (2017). The impact of the advanced practice nursing role on quality of care, clinical outcomes, patient satisfaction, and cost in the emergency and critical care settings: a systematic review. Human resources for health, 15(1), 1-22.
