The disciplinary perspective of nursing is guided in part by its metaparadigm, which includes the concepts of human beings, environment, health, and nursing. While relevant to the discipline as a whole, these abstract concepts are not meant for operationalization into the practice environment. The authors in this paper introduce a midparadigm of nursing—namely, the prismatic midparadigm—for applications in research, practice, policy, and education. It is a framework of concepts that are less abstract, but congruent with, the metaparadigm and more specific to the practice environment with the context of vulnerability as central.
BealJ. A.RileyJ. M. (2019). Best organizational practices that foster scholarly nursing practice in Magnet® hospitals. Journal of Professional Nursing, 35(3), 187–194. doi:10.1016/j.profnurs.2019.01.001
FawcettJ. (1984). The metaparadigm of nursing: Present status and future refinements. Image: The Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 16(3), 84–89. doi:10.1111/j.1547-5069.1984.tb01393.x
4.
FawcettJ. (1989). Contemporary conceptualizations of nursing: Philosophy or science? (2nd ed.). Philadelphia, PA: F.A. Davis.
5.
FawcettJ. (1996). On the requirements for a metaparadigm: An invitation to dialogue. Nursing Science Quarterly, 9(3), 94–97. doi:10.1177/089431849600900305
6.
FitzpatrickJ. J.ReedP. G.SmithM. C.SmithM. J.RoyC. (2019). The nursing disciplinary perspective – 50 years ago and the view forward. Advances in Nursing Science, 42(1), 2.
7.
HardyM. E. (1978). Perspectives on nursing theory. Advances in Nursing Science, 1(1), 37–48.
8.
LeeR. C.FawcettJ. (2013). The influence of the metaparadigm of nursing on professional identity development among RN-BSN students. Nursing Science Quarterly, 26(1), 96–98. doi:10.1177/0894318412466734
9.
LiehrP.SmithM. J. (2017). Middle range theory: A perspective on development and use. Advances in Nursing Science, 40(1), 51–63. doi:10.1097/ans.0000000000000162
10.
MeadM. (1956). Nursing—primitive and civilized. The American Journal of Nursing, 56(8), 1001–1003.
11.
MeleisA. I. (2010). Transitions theory: Middle-range and situation-specific theories in nursing research and practice. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.
12.
ReedP. G. (1991). Toward a nursing theory of self-transcendence: Deductive reformulation using developmental theories. Advances in Nursing Science, 13(4), 64–77. doi:10.1097/00012272-199106000-00008
13.
ReedP. G. (1997). Nursing: The ontology of the discipline. Nursing Science Quarterly, 10(2), 76–79. doi:10.1177/089431849701000207
14.
ReedP. G. (2017). From meta-paradigm to mid-paradigm. Unpublished paper from Pam’s Notes in NURS706: Theory Development & Evaluation, The University of Arizona College of Nursing, Tucson.
15.
ReedP. G. (2018a). The spiral path of nursing knowledge. In ReedP. G.ShearerN. B. C. (Eds.), Nursing knowledge and theory innovation: Advancing the science of practice (pp. 1–20, 2nd ed.). New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.
16.
ReedP. G. (2018b). Theory of self-transcendence. In SmithM. J.LiehrP. R. (Eds.), Middle range theory for nursing (4th ed., pp. 119–146). New York, NY: Springer.
17.
RogersM. E. (1987). Nursing research in the future. New York, NY: National League for Nursing.
18.
RogersA. C. (1997). Vulnerability, health and health care. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 26(1), 65–72. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2648.1997.1997026065.x
19.
TheodoridisK. (2018). Nursing as concrete philosophy, Part I: Risjord on nursing knowledge. Nursing Philosophy, 19(2). doi:10.1111/nup.12205
