Patricia Benner

After reading Patricia Benner’s model “From Novice to Expert,” I have been able to reflect on my nursing experiences and to evaluate where I consider myself based on her hierarchy. Benner explains that nurses develop skills and an understanding of patient care over time from a combination of educational and personal experiences. Her premise was based on the idea that nurses could gain knowledge and skills without actually learning the theoretical constructs. She felt that the development of a nurse revolved around knowledge through research and understanding gained from clinical experiences. Benner’s model is broken into five levels of nursing experience: novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient and expert.
A novice is seen as a beginner with no experience in the field. During this stage a nurse is taught general rules so that tasks can be performed safely. During this phase there is no thinking outside of the box, it’s simply following instructions to perform tasks. My novice period began prior to starting my formal nursing career during my training as an Emergency Medical Technician-B. Although not a nurse I learned procedures as tasks completed and checked off in a very cut and dry manner. These procedures were the essential building blocks to my nursing foundation and they were the experiences that pushed me to continue my education toward RN licensure. I reentered the novice period after obtaining my LPN license in 2008. For approximately one year I worked for a temp agency at two assisted living centers. Although I only rotated through these two locations, I felt that I never advanced beyond a novice level. I was always focused on my “to do” list such as baths, vital signs and giving meds. Head to toe assessments and documentation were rarely required. I lacked the ability and experience to think critically and to prioritize patient care. There were frightening times when patients would have seizures and I would just hope that they would stop before