Editorial A Community of Scholars

Nursing has struggled with its identity for at least a century. This crisis, usually described as unresolved tensions be- tween art and science, occupation and profession, practice and theory, is re- flected in the great debates: entry into practice, the nursing shortage, and re- imbursement for practice.

While definition along a continuum of knowledge and specialization is a goal to be achieved, I suggest that we step back from professional dilemmas and address the theoretical and empiri- cal basis-of nursing. I propose we ex- plore and write about the scientific foundations for nursing education and practice.

Image salutes the Ten-Year Plan and recognizes the commitment of the members of Sigma Theta Tau to serve

as catalysts and critics of the status quo while they simultaneously defend and act as advocates for scholarship and ed- ucation and practice. In assuming this challenge, the membership has the bur- den of its educational legacy. Some nurses were educated at the level of in- tuitive nursing or taught to model their practices along medical norms. Others developed into skillful practitioners from experience-based learning and common sense scenarios. Another group was taught to make nursing deci- sions on data and to analyze situations from theoretical perspectives. In any case most nurses entered practice ill prepared to explain, defend, practice, or transmit the discipline of nursing.

Image, the official journal of Sigma Theta Tau, was founded to stimulate

and nourish the nurse scholar. This is- sue inaugurates a dialogue about the nature and discipline of nursing. We in- vite manuscripts that explicate and cri- tique theory and empiricism, deduction and induction, in education and prac- tice. Scholarly journals may liberate nursing from its parochial orientations. The literature of a field plays a critical role in extending the boundaries of knowledge and in linking and extend- ing the community of scholars. Within this decade, Image will reflect and reify the work of nurse intellectuals. It will be a vehicle to strengthen the scholarship that gives life and meaning to education and practice.

Sister Rosemary Donley Senior Editor

Tribute Myrtle K. Aydelotte

Page 2 Image FebruarylMarch, 1982, Volume XIV, No. 1