NURSING THEORY-BASED PRACTICE IN THE HOME AND COMMUNITY - THE CRUX OFPROFESSIONAL NURSING-EDUCATION

Nursing has been viewed as a service for people wherever they may be-a service, grounded in scientific knowledge, that transcends setting. Y et nursing education has been overwhelmed by hospital institutions for the past 50 years, its attention diverted to medical entities and ins titutional trends, with fragmentation and depersonalization of general health care as well as nursing care as the result. Nursing theory-bas ed practice is not feasible in institutions where medical orders overs hadow all other disciplines. Community-based experiences in which nurs ing students learn about people and their health in the context of hom e and community offer the best promise for students to learn the compl ex human dynamics of real life and develop the holistic perspective re quired for independent nursing practice. The time has passed for nursi ng education to focus on the fraction of the population in hospitals w hile slighting knowledge about health as it is lived every day. Priori ty content for all nursing students should be a portable nursing theor ybase that can be taken anywhere, focusing on health promotion, health y environments, and quality of life.