THE CARRIER BAG THEORY OF NURSING PRACTICE

The carrier bag theory of nursing practice is a reinterpretation of ho w nursing is known and practiced that explicitly acknowledges and valu es nursing's oral and experiential traditions. An assumption of this w ork is that the region of experience that is nursing has been effectiv ely divided into two worlds-academia and the world of practice. This h as resulted in a theory-practice gap and an elite class-working class gap, as well as a gap between epistemes, or ''knowing that'' versus '' knowing how.'' This article describes the development of reflective pr actice and resulting narratives from a critical perspective as a way o f creating a pathway between the two worlds of nursing and honoring sc holarship in all the ways nursing is known and practiced. Key words: c arrier bag theory, oral tradition, practice scholarship, reflective pr actice