Delya's story: from expert to novice, a critique of Benner's concept of context in the development of expert nursing practice

The concepts identified within Benner's Nineteen Eighty Four research 'From Novice to Expert' have been widely adopted within UK nursing education and development. This paper combines a narrative from a post-registration stud ent with analysis of the literature as a case study for gaining greater und erstanding of Benner's work in practice. Delya's story both validates aspec ts of the concept of skill acquisition and challenges some of the interpret ations of the model within professional education. The focus of the critiqu e of Benner's work within the literature to date has been on a deconstructi on of the concepts and semantics of her work. In presenting verbatim extrac ts from a case study this paper seeks to move the focus to nursing practice . (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.