University of Cebu Lapu-Lapu & Mandaue

A.C. Cortes, Looc, Mandaue City

College of Nursing

Patricia Benner
FROM NOVICE TO EXPERT

Submitted by:
Thieza Mecca G. Lucena
Aubrey Entrina
Wiljun Escala

Submitted to:
Argie E. Encienzo, RN .
TFN Instructor

Patricia Benner
(From Novice to Expert)
BIOGRAPHY
 Patricia Sawyer was born on August 13, 1942, at Hampton, Virginia, and spent her childhood in California,
where she received her early and professional education.
 She obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Nursing from Pasadena College in 1964.
 She married Richard Benner in 1967 and they had two children
  In 1970 she earned a master’s degree in nursing, with a major emphasis in Medical-Surgical Nursing, from the
University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Nursing.
 In 1982 she completed doctorate, Ph.D. in stress, coping, and health in at the University of California, Berkeley.
 In 1970 she began her career as a postgraduate nurse researcher in the School on Nursing at UCSF
 In 1982, Benner joined the nursing faculty as an associate professor in the Department of Physiological Nursing
at UCSF and a tenured professor in 1989.
 Benner retired from full-time teaching on 2008 as professor emerita from UCSF
 She is currently the Chief Development Officer for educatingnurses.com with Dr. Pat Hopper-Kyriakidis on an
online simulation program NovEx (During COVID-19 Pandemic)
 Dr Benner has published nine books, including
o From Novice to Expert
o Nursing Pathways for Patient Safety, and
o The Primacy of Caring. Interpretive Phenomenology: embodied caring and Ethics in Health and illness
o The crisis of care
o Expertise in nursing Practice: Caring, Clinical Judgment. And Ethics
o Caregiving
o Clinic Wisdom and interventions in critical care: A thinking in Action Approach
 1989 she received the National League for Nursing Linda Richard’s Award for leadership in education and both
the National League for Nursing Excellence in Leadership Award for Nursing Education and the NLN President’s
Award for Creativity and Innovation in Nursing Education in 2010
 In 1990 he received the excellence in nursing research and excellence in nursing education award from the
California organization of nurse executives
 In, 1993 she also received the Alumnus of the Year Award from point Loma Nazarene College
 in 1994 Benner became an honorary fellow in the Royal College of nursing United Kingdom
 In 1995, she was awarded the 15th Helen Nahm Research Lecture Award from the UCSF for her contribution
doing nursing science and research
 In 2002, The Institute for Nursing Healthcare Leadership commemorated the impact of the landmark book
“From Novice to Expert” with an award acknowledging 20 years of collecting and extending clinical wisdom,
experimental learning and caring practice
 in May 2004, Benner received the American Association of critical care nurses pioneering spirit award for her
work on skill acquisitions and articulating nursing knowledge and critical care
 In 2007 she was selected for the UCSF School of Nursing Centennial wall of fame, and she received the
American Organization of Nurse Executives' excellence in research award
 In 2008 Benner was ranked as the fourth most influential owners in the past 60 years by the readership of the
journal Nursing Standard in the United Kingdom.
 in 2011 the American Academy of nursing honored Patricia Benner as a Living Legend.
 Known for Excellence and Power in Clinical Nursing Practice

D r . B e n n e r ’ s P h i l o s o p h y
Dr. Benner “proposed that a nurse could gain knowledge and skills without actually learning a theory” Described as
“knowing how” without “knowing that” Development of knowledge in nursing is “a combination of knowledge through
research and understanding through clinical experience” (Nursing Theory, 2011).

Dr. Benner describes her works interpretive phenomenology which means observing and interpreting actual nursing
practice to find the meaning of the experiences

Dr. Patricia Benner contribution to Nursing Theory;

D r . B e n n e r ’ s M o t i v a t i o n
Nursing practice has been studied primarily from a sociological perspective as opposed to the study of nursing
practice itself
 Nursing knowledge is accrued over time; it is embedded in expertise. Thoughts are based on the Dreyfus
model.
  Knowledge has gone uncharted and unstudied because differences between practical and theoretical
knowledge have been misunderstood
 Well charted nursing practice and observation are essential for theory development (Benner, 2001).

Patient needs increasing

 Lengths of stays decreasing

With all that is required in the nursing field, wanted to provide an understanding for nurses, as they develop their skills
of what makes a novice nurse become an expert nurse (Benner,1982).

D r . B e n n e r ’ s I n f l u e n c e s
Virginia Henderson

 Dr. Benner has acknowledged that her “thinking has been influenced greatly by Virginia Henderson.”

Dreyfus model of Skill acquisition

 Developed in 1980
 Describes five levels of skill acquisition and development
 Model showed advancement through the stages by changes in performance
 Developed by studying chess players and pilots
 Benner adapted the Dreyfus model for clinical nursing practice, basis for her work: Novice to Expert.
 Dr. Benner’s Stages of Nursing Proficiency
Novice

is a beginner with no experience. They are taught general rules to help perform tasks, and their rule-governed behavior
is limited and inflexible. Can also apply to experienced nurse in a area or situation of unfamiliarity

Advanced beginner

shows acceptable performance and has gained prior experience in actual nursing situations. This helps the nurse
recognize recurring meaningful components so that principles, based on those experiences, begin to formulate in order
to guide actions.

Competent nurse stage

generally, has two- or three-years’ experience on the job in the same field. These nurses are more aware of long-term
goals, and they gain perspective from planning their own actions, which helps them achieve greater efficiency and
organization.

Proficient nurse stage

perceives and understands situations as whole parts. He or she has a more holistic understanding of nursing, which
improves decision-making. These nurses learn from experiences what to expect in certain situations, as well as how to
modify plans as needed

Expert nurses’ stage

is the last stage no longer relying on principles, rules, or guidelines to connect situations and determine actions. They
have a deeper background of experience and an intuitive grasp of clinical situations. Their performances are fluid,
flexible, and highly-proficient. Benner’s writings explain that nursing skills through experience are a prerequisite for
becoming an expert nurse

T h e 4 M e t a p a r a d i g m s i n N u r s i n g a s d e f i n e d b y
P a t r i c i a B e n n e r

Nursing
Benner viewed nursing as the care and study of the lived experience and the relationship of these three elements:
• Health
• Illness
• Disease
Person

“…the person does not come into the world predefined but gets defined in the course of living a life” Benner believed
that there are significant aspects that make the being. She conceptualized these as the roles of:
• The role of the situation
• The role of the body
• The role of the personal concerns
• The role of the temporality
Health
Benner focused “on the lived experience of being healthy and being ill”
• Health is defined as what can be assessed
• Well- being is the human experience of health or wholeness
• A person may have a disease and not experience illness
• Illness is the human experience of loss or dysfunction
• Disease is what can be assessed at physical level

Environment
Dr. Benner uses the term situation rather than environment. “Personal interpretation of the situation is bounded by the
way the individual is in it” (Tomey & Alligood, 2006). Each person’s past, present and future which include their own
personal meaning, habits and perspectives influence the current situation (Alligood & Tomy, 2011).
 R e l a t i o n s h i p o f P a r a d i g m s t o B e n n e r ’ s

Model The conclusion of the four paradigms of nursing creates experiences that nurses utilize to advance
through the stages of Benner’s model From Novice to Expert. Using Dr. Benner’s Model in Practice
Examples of use in practice:
 Nursing School curriculum
 Orientation processes
 Nursing educational programs
 Professional advancement ladders
 Interdepartmental job changes
 Developing mentorship programs
 Preceptors for student nurses
 Mentors for newly graduated / pass out nurses
 Development of Clinical Simulation Protocol
 Application of theory in nursing research

I m p l i c a t i o n s a n d C o n s e q u e n c e s
 School of nursing have adopted Benner’s model to use as a base for the education of nurses.
 Hospitals and other nurse work places use the model as a foundation for preceptor-based guidance of
nursing students and new graduate nurses
 Social agencies and nursing continuing education program developers also use Benner’ s model.
 Nursing administrators utilize the model to help “develop career ladders, staff development and
recognition and rewards programs”

C l i n i c a l L a d d e r P r o g r a m s

 Most are based on stages of clinical

S T R E N G H T A N D W E A K N E S S E S
STRENGHT
The theory has the potential to be used universally as a framework and is not restricted by age, illness,
health, or location of nursing practice. The model was empirically tested using qualitative methodologies.
“The strength of the Benner model is that it is data-based research that contributes to the science of
nursing” One of the greatest strengths of Benner’s theory is that it focuses on the behaviour of nurses
depending on their level of understanding with nursing practice – novice, advanced beginner, competent,
proficient, expert. Her theory highlights the importance of clinical experience in developing expertise. As
observed today, her theory is widely used as it provides a foundation to use for assigning clinical competence.

WEAKNESSES
Dr. Benner’s theory is too simple to account for the complex pattern of phenomena linked to expert intuition
in nursing
Benner and her colleagues, based on previous work by the Dreyfus brothers (Dreyfus & Dreyfus, 1986),
strongly argue that, intuition and holistic perception are necessary for performing at expert level. However,
by doing so, they underestimate the role played by analytic and conscious problem solving at the expert level

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