MY KNOWING WAS NEVER JUST MINE. This is my six-word story and it captures a core truth of my nursing epistemology: that knowledge in nursing is co-created, relational, and deeply situated within human connection. Rather than viewing knowledge as an individual possession, this perspective aligns with the view that knowing emerges through shared experience, presence, and dialogue (Thorne, 2020; Munhall, 2007). In my practice, what I have come to know is not solely the result of formal education or clinical expertise–it is shaped in conversation with patients, communities, students, and cultural contexts.
As a nurse and mentor, I do not believe in gatekeeping knowledge. Rather, it is something we build together, pass forward, and allow to evolve. This, to me, is the true beauty of knowing in nursing–it enlightens us all.
References
Munhall, P. L. (2007). Nursing research: A qualitative perspective (4th ed.). Jones and Bartlett Learning.
Thorne, S. (2020). Rethinking Carper’s personal knowing for 21st century nursing. Nursing Philosophy, 21(2). https://doi.org/10.1111/nup.12307