Nursing theory helps distinguish nursing as a separate discipline from medicine and related sciences, and assists nurses in understanding their patients and their needs.

1. PATRICIA BENNER THEORY
MUNIBA RAZZAQUE
NADIA KHALID

2. Objectives
At the end of this session students will be able to…………
• Discuss Patricia Benner theory
• Discuss the key concept of Patricia Benner
• Description of Nurses Based on the Dreyfus Model of skill Acquisition
• Analyze Dreyfus Model

3. Patricia Benner’s Biography
• Dr. Patricia Benner is a nursing theorist
• She born in Hampton Virginia August 1942
• American academy of nursing Living Legends 2011
• First developed a model for the stages of clinical competence

4. Cont…
• Patricia Benner model is one of the most useful frameworks for assessing
nurses' needs at different stages of professional growth
• Nursing school curriculum
• Preceptors for student nurses
• Mentors for newly graduated nurses (Dracup and Bryan- Brown, 2004)
• Development of the Clinical Simulation

5. Patricia Benner As Author
• From Novice to Expert
• The Primacy of Caring
• Caring and Ethics in Health and Illness
• The Crisis of Care
• Expertise in Nursing Practice and Caring
• Clinical Judgment, and Ethics
• Clinical Wisdom and Interventions in Critical Care

6. An Influential Nurse in the Development of the
Profession of Nursing
Patricia Benner’s research and theory work provides the profession of
nursing with what we now know as the Novice to Expert model, also known
as Benner’s Stages of Clinical Competence.Benner’s work as applied to the
nursing profession is adapted from the Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition.

7. Skill Acquisition
“The utility of the concept of skill acquisition lies in helping the teacher
understand how to assist the learner in advancing to the next level”
(McClure, 2005)

8. Expert
Proficient
Competent
Beginner
Novice Has no professional
experience
Can note recurrent
meaningful situational
component, but not prioritize
between them
Begins to understand actions
in terms of long-range goals
Perceives situations as wholes,
rather than in terms of aspects
Has intuitive grasp of the
situation and zeros in on the
accurate region of the
problem
Dreyfus
Model of
Skill
Acquisition

9. Novice
• The person has no background experience of the situation.
• There is difficulty discerning between relevant and irrelevant
aspects of the situation.
• Beginner to profession or nurse changing area
of practice (Frisch,2009)

10. Advanced Beginner
• Demonstrate acceptable performance
• Nurses functioning at this level are guided by rules and
oriented by task completion.
• Still requires mentor or experienced nurse to assist with
defining situations, to set priorities, and to integrate practical
knowledge (English,1993)

11. Competent
• After two to three years in the same area of nursing the nurse moves into
the Competent Stage of skill acquisition.
• More aware of long-term goals
• The competent nurse devises new rules for plan while
applying learned rules for action on the basis of the
relevant facts of that situation.

12. Proficient
“The nurse possesses a deep understanding
of situations as they occur, less conscious
planning is necessary, critical thinking and
decision-making skills have developed” .
(Frisch, 2009)

13. Expert
• The expert operates from a deep understanding of the total situation.
• Much more background of experience.

14. Nursing Application of Benner’s Theory
• Nursing school curriculum
• Building clinical ladders for nurses (Frisch, 2009)
• Developing mentorship programs
• Preceptors for student nurses
• Mentors for newly graduated nurses (Dracup and Bryan- Brown, 2004)
• Development of the Clinical Simulation

15. Four Domains Of Nursing Paradigm
1. Client/Person
2. Health
3. Environment/Situation
4. Nursing

16. Client/ Person
“The person is a self interpreting being, that is the person
does not come into the world predefined but gets defined
in the course of living a life.”
(Dr. Benner)

17. Health
Health is defined as what can be assessed,
whereas well being is the
human experience of health
or wholeness.

18. Environment/Situation
“To be situated implies that
one has a past, present, and
future and that all of these
aspects influence the
current situation.”
Dr. Benner

19. Nursing
Nursing is described as a caring relationship, an
“enabling condition of connection and concern.”
Dr. Benner

20. Reference
• Benner P. From novice to expert. Menlo Park. 1984.
• Benner P. Using the Dreyfus model of skill acquisition to describe and
interpret skill acquisition and clinical judgment in nursing practice and
education. Bulletin of science, technology & society. 2014 Jun;24(3):188-
99.
• Patricia Benner RN, Christine Tanner RN, editors. Expertise in nursing
practice: Caring, clinical judgment, and ethics. Springer Publishing
Company; 2009 Mar 16.