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Biomedical subjects

William K Cody

Publications and source records attributed to William K Cody.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

Diversity and becoming: implications of human existence as coexistence.

Better ways of understanding and working with human diversity are needed in the healthcare and human service disciplines. Nursing, as the discipline that cares for whole persons throughout their lives and meets people where they are, is ideally suited to provide leadership to this effort. In this column, the author explores human diversity by explicating human existence as coexistence, with implications for nursing. The author locates his worldview within the human becoming school of thought. Human diversity and human existence as coexistence are explored within this context, with implications for nursing as a discipline identified. Ideas that are crucial in the explication of human existence as coexistence are difference, imagination, creativity, and wholeness.

Creativity↗

Paternalism in nursing and healthcare: central issues and their relation to theory.

Paternalistic practices, wherein providers confer a treatment or service upon a person or persons without their consent, ostensibly by reason of their limited autonomy or diminished capacity, are widespread in healthcare and in societies around the world. In the United States, paternalism in health and human services is widespread and probably increasing with newly emergent forms. Numerous issues surround paternalistic practices. In this column, the author examines these issues in relation to theory development in healthcare and nursing as well as theory as a guide to practice. It is suggested that scientific and ethical knowing are not separate but must be united in theoretical structures that include both in unity, along with an appreciation of the infinite complexity of life as it is humanly lived. It is also suggested that nursing's unique theory base of frameworks that honor human dignity and focus on human experience offers an opportunity for leadership in further developing theoretical frameworks that transcend paternalistic practices.

Beneficence↗

Critical thinking and nursing science: judgment, or vision?

For decades, critical thinking has been widely regarded as a concept and process of central importance in the practice of nurses and in their education. Numerous nursing textbooks heavily emphasize the development of critical thinking skills in students. The attention given to critical thinking in nursing parallels a reform movement that has had an impact on virtually all fields. Close attention to the ways in which critical thinking is addressed in nursing, however, reveals a starkly delimited view of its meaning within the discipline. This article questions whether the vision of critical thinking as a cornerstone of practice in nursing may need to be expanded. The discussion centers on three points: nursing theories and frameworks as ways to enrich critical thinking in nursing practice; the inadequacy of the model of critical thinking as an individual, analytical process; and possibilities that are cocreated when critical thinking is conceived as a creative/constructive, relational/dialogical process.

Humans↗

Ambiguous opportunity: toiling for truth of nursing art and science.

This article questions traditional boundaries between nursing art and nursing science and explores how nurses build knowledge and truth. A brief overview of familiar notions about nursing art is followed by questions that are meant to deepen understanding about nursing and the knowledge required for a discipline. Authors describe understanding as an event that heralds human creation of meaning and potential action. Art is then shown to be a way to enhance understanding and meaningful knowledge when woven with nursing theory to guide practice. Findings from Parse's research method are described as artistic expressions, and borders that have served to separate notions about nursing art and science are challenged. The hermeneutics of human becoming are presented as beacons for truth and understanding. Authors call for tolerance of ambiguity and openness to support dialogue and discovery.

Art↗

Nursing knowledge and human science revisited: practical and political considerations.

The human science tradition is rooted in human freedom and meaning and oriented toward narrative and dialogical methods. In the past 10 years, human science nursing has grown but the opposition has also increased. Whereas other health disciplines are turning to the study of lived experience, nursing on the whole may be turning away. This article updates progress in human science, including works related to major nursing theories. The authors address practical and political considerations related to language, community, theory-laden knowledge, and tolerance for diversity. The authors conclude that the suppression of human science imperils nursing as a practice of being-with, witnessing, and cocreating quality of life, lived by nurses. But theories live in the actions of those who support them; thus, any place where people seek human care has the potential to support a human science-based nursing practice.

Humans↗

Lyrical language and nursing discourse: can science be the tool of love?

Lyricism is a quality of discourse expressing intensely personal feeling or emotion. It is historically associated with romanticism, which involves the imagination and emotions, the use of autobiographical material, the exaltation of a common humanity, and an appreciation of nature. The language of a science conveys the meaning, significance, and utility of concepts among scholars, practitioners, and the general public. It is incumbent upon nurses to attempt to represent in our disciplinary language the realities lived by people, that is, to apprehend, describe, and explain the full breadth and diversity of human phenomena, guided by the discipline-wide focus on the wholeness of the human being. The language of objectivistic science cannot do this. Even in contemporary qualitative research there are limitations in achieving such a representation. This column therefore calls for greater attention to lyrical discourse in nursing science and outlines the potential benefits in nursing theory development, research, and practice. Encouragement of lyrical discourse in nursing science is consistent with the contemporary movement toward a dialogical rationality. It is posited that, if the ethos of nursing is rooted in love of humanity, lyrical discourse may be one way for nursing to pursue its mission to serve humankind.

Communication↗