Health As Expanding Consciousness: Clinical Reasoning in Baccalaureate Nursing Students

Clinical reasoning has been identified as a necessary skill to practice nursing. Multiple studies suggested that a gap exists between the education of nurses and their ability to transition into practice. Newman’s theory of health as expanding consciousness and research as paxis methodology was used to collect and analyze data of seven senior baccalaureate nursing students. Patterns of individual and across participants revealed the emergence of patterns of relating, knowing, and clinical decision-making as contributing to the evolving pattern of clinical reasoning. The findings of this study were consistent with Newman’s theory and support the theoretical framework and methodology.