Uncovering Meaning: How Nursing Knowledge Changes Policy in Practice

What ethical values, assumptions, and beliefs guide nursingpractice today? What is the purpose and intent of policy in relationship to nursingpractice? What underlying assumptions, values, and beliefs are missed in policy development that is not informed by nursingknowledge? These are some of the questions the authors attempt to answer in this paper. They examine some of the ethical dilemmasthat arise when nursesare required to enforce policy that conflicts with nursing theory. A descriptionof how nursing theoryinforms miss-takes (that is, missed assumptions, missed understandings, missed views and values) highlights how nursingknowledge changes policy in practice.