This document summarizes a lunch and learn presentation about Patricia Benner's Novice to Expert nursing theory. Dr. Benner's theory proposes that nurses pass through five stages of proficiency: novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient, and expert. The presentation provides an overview of the theory's strengths in emphasizing skills development and clinical expertise, as well as limitations regarding its emphasis on experience over education. It then presents questions for Dr. Benner about applying the theory in practice and helping experienced nurses progress to the expert level.

1. Lunch with
Dr. Patricia Benner’s
Lunch & learn program for Nursing Staff
Presented by Joyce Lin
Athabasca University
NURS 608
Philosophical Foundation of Nursing

2. Greetings
• Welcome to all nurses who came and joined our “Lunch and Learn
Program”.
• Today, we invited Dr. Benner to here because we are going to talk
about her “Novice to Expert Theory”.
• Welcome, Dr. Benner. My presentation will take less than 10 minutes,
and Dr. Benner will answer our questions in order to help us to gain
real-life guidance on practice issues in our working areas.
• Lunch boxes and drinks are provided by our nursing department.
Enjoy.

3. The Novice to Expert Theory
• The Novice to Expert Theory is a construct theory first proposed by Hubert
and Dreyfus (1980) as the Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition.
• Patricia Benner (1984) modified and applied it to nursing practice. The
Novice to Expert theory is also known as the Benner’s stage of clinical
competences model. Her model has become the foundation for preceptor
program for students and new graduate nurses (Myrich & Barrett, 1992) as
well as continuing education programs.
• Benner’s work has also been developed and applied in general staff
nursing, critical care nursing, community health nursing, and advanced
practice nursing developments.

4. Dr. Benner’s the Novice to Expert Theory

5. Strengths of the theory
• The theory is very helpful because it emphasizes the importance of knowledge
development, clinical expertise, personal development in nursing profession
(Dracup & Bryan-Brown, 2004).
• Strengths
• The essence of the theory is easy to grasp and explain.
• Helps guiding the growth of individuals into competent, experienced, and
morally rooted nurses, as well as the development of nursing profession.
• Highlights the importance of clinical experience in developing expertise.
• Addresses all aspects of the metaparadigm that allows a nurse to care for a
patient wholly and holistically.

6. Limitations of the theory
The theory is not too helpful in some areas because of its limitations.
• The theory emphasizes learning through experiences and skills attainment.
There is a little emphasis on the role of academic aspects of learning (Fraley,
2016).
• The theory proposes 5 stages from novice to expert nurse (Benner, 1984).
However, the staging criterial is unclear. The number of years experience and
supervisors judgements are not measureable or relievable for staging.
• Benner provides theoretical definitions for her major concepts but not the
operational definitions for empirical measurement (Seller, O'Brien, & Brock,
2014) .

7. Question for Dr. Benner:
• You proposed that one could gain knowledge and skills (“knowing how”) without
ever learning the theory (“knowing that”)(Benner, 1984).
• The primary purpose of a theory in the profession of nursing is to improve
practice by positively influence the health and quality of life of patients (Saleh,
2018). A theory is important because it helps us to decide what we know and
what we need to know (Parson, 2002);
Question 1: How do you view the importance in using your theory as a
framework to provide safe and quality nursing care?

8. An application of the theory in real life.
• Jenny is a registered nurse working in a PACU for 20 + years. She is very nice to
her patients, very caring, and helpful to her colleagues.
• She can recognize immediately how she must react to most situations when she
works for patients with minor surgeries or very stable patients.
• Sometimes Jenny can realize that there is a bigger picture and modifies her
response plans to different events but requests big helps from the team when
she encounters new acute situations.
• She still relies on rules or procedures, rather than her knowledge and experience
to act on intuition when necessary.
• Jenny is a competent nurse and she sometime reaches her proficient stage. Yet
the theory is not helpful for Jenny to successfully progress into the expert stage.

9. Question to Dr. Benner - Continue
• You theorized that every person would follow through specific steps of
development, allowing them to progress from novice to expert if they were given
enough time to do so (Benner, 1984).
• You also proposed that nurses should always be moving forward in their
progression through these five stages
Question 2: Jenny is only one of those nurses who have been working
in the same practice area for years but they are unable to progress into
the expert stage. How can your theory can help these nurses to move
forward?

10. More real life questions to Dr. Benner
3. Your theory focuses on hands on clinical experiences and directed patient care
(Benner, 1984). Without the education and knowledge provided through schooling
or continuing education, how safe the learners can provide care to patients in a
clinical area?
4. You proposed that it would take 2-3 years for a nurse to become competent, and
up to 5 years to become an expert. Are there any features or contributions can
enhance or surpass the progressions? How can an organization nurture their
staffing developments?

11. Summary
• Benner’s Novice to Expert Theory categorized nursing into 5 levels of capabilities.
• The theory has been widely utilized and modified by nursing schools for students
as well as health administration for staffing development.
• Its strengths and limitations have been identified.
• One clinical application was presented and waiting for Dr. Benner to give us a
guidance on how to help nurses to advance their nursing career to be expert
nurses in general.

12. References
• Benner, P. (1984). From novice to expert: Excellence and power in clinical nursing practice. Menlo Park: Addison-Wesley,
pp. 13-34. Retrieved from https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/nursing/projects/Documents/novice-expert-benner.pdf
• Benner, p. (2018). Educating nurses.com with Patricia Benner. Retrieved from
https://www.educatingnurses.com/biography-of-patricia-benner/
• Dracup & Bryan-Brown (2004). From Novice to Expert to Mentor Shaping the Future. American Journal of Critical Care.
2004;13: 448-450. http://currentnursing.com/nursing_theory/Patricia_Benner_From_Novice_to_Expert.html
• Fraley, Timothy E.,(2016). "Transitioning Novice Nurses to Expert Nurses in Progressive Telemetry Care" (2016). Nursing
Theses and Capstone Projects. 245. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/nursing_etd/245
• Myrick, F., & Barrett, C. (1992). Preceptor selection criteria in Canadian basic baccalaureate schools of nursing—a survey.
Canadian Journal of Nursing Research, 24(3), 53-68. Retrieved from
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1448/d77faabf0e4cd72a7a9e959f3a7df862d7a5.pdf
• Patricia Benner's Novice to Expert (2015). Retrieved from http://psbennersnsgtheory.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-
theoretical-assertions_29.html
• Seller D, O'Brien R, Brock K (2014) Learning needs analysis comparing novice and expert opinion, to develop a simulation
based intensive care unit training programme. New Zealand Journal o f Physiotherapy 42(2): 133-140. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268926760_Learning_needs_analysis_compari