It is often the case that theories include the nurse and the patient, but Benner’s theory excludes patients entirely. Her entire theory is uniquely applicable to nurses and their professional development. As a result, Benner’s theory is limited to clinical practice, nurse education and nurse educational research. Furthermore, Alligood and Tomey (2010) state Benner’s theory “has a potential for universal application as a framework, but the descriptions are limited by dependence on the actual clinical nursing situations from which they must be derived” (p. …show more content…
The study specifically focused on the novice and expert nurse, and compared how they each would treat the same pressure sores. To do this, the researchers determined each nurse’s basic knowledge of wound care and then asked each nurse to decide on treatment plans for three pressure sores shown to them on a photograph. The novice and expert nurse’s decision were then compared to that of an expert panel. The results of the study revealed expert nurses made significantly more accurate decisions than the novice nurses. Expert nurses were able to make better treatment decision because they focused on certain types of information more often than novice nurses. The information included the patient’s mobility, nutritional status and the amount exudate from the wound. The study ultimately determined that specific education in wound care will greatly improve a nurse’s accuracy in the treatment of pressure