Carper knowledge patterns and expression in nursing care: review study

Abstract

The goal of this article is to describe Barbara Carper's nursing knowledge patterns and their influence in the different contexts of the nursing discipline, in research, education and practice. Methodology: review of the scientific literature found in the databases Bvs-BIREME, SciELO and PubMed during the years 2008 to 2015, selecting nine articles that used the approach of Carper's knowledge patterns as an inclusion criterion, both in qualitative and quantitative research. The need to give a solid base to the Nursing professional work allowed to develop patterns through values, structures, forms and behaviors, knowledge patterns that serve as guidelines to exemplify characteristics and ways of thinking about the topics of study. Speaking of knowledge patterns in this discipline is to necessarily refer to Barbara Carper, who identified four fundamental knowledge patterns. These patterns are distinguished according to the type of logical meaning: the empirical one refers to the science of nursing; the aesthetic one to the art of nursing; the personnel one to the knowledge of oneself and others; and the ethical one allows the development of moral knowledge in nursing. It was concluded that each nursing knowledge pattern has essential dimensions and elements that make easier its understanding. They are all indivisible; they can be used individually, but they are integrated as a whole, when the practice of care is developed.