In a lecture given in London, last year, Patricia Benner provides some food for thought on the development of nursing practice

NURSING PRACTICE for the next century will forge new paths in health promotion, care of the chronically ill and ageing. If the 90s are characterised as virtual, managerial, economic and disembodied, then the next decade, I hope, will be characterised as embodied, socially diverse, and caring in ways that are mindful of our common humanity and common human condition. By attending to nurses’ valuable experiential learning in practice, we can make our clinical wisdom public, collective and cumulative. As nurses we will need to make visible what we know and contribute in our practice. Practice is not a mere shadow of science and technology. Practice is a way of knowing in its own right that must be in dialogue with science and technology.