Creating cohesion between the discipline and practice of nursing using Problem Based Learning.

For at least four decades there has been concern about the discontinuity between the discipline and practice of nursing. The learning traditions in nursing, including the traditional organization of professional educational curricula with an emphasis on general education, could be contributing to this discontinuity. Problem Based Learning (PBL) has been identified as one way to facilitate greater cohesion between the discipline and practice of nursing. Nursing learners exposed to PBL are challenged to achieve professionally desired liberal learning outcomes and acquire knowledge and skill in the discipline of nursing by encountering key professional practice situations as the stimulus and focus of their classroom learning activity. By combining reflection on existing knowledge essential to understanding the situation with research for new knowledge, PBL reflects the process of knowledge generation. Through PBL learners can achieve a deeper understanding of nursing as a discipline, the relationship of nursing to other disciplines and cohesion between the discipline and practice of nursing.