Concept Maps: Linking Nursing Theory to Clinical Nursing Practice

The purpose of this article is to offer a different methodology for teaching and learning in continuing nursing education and staff development. This article describes a qualitative research study that analyzed how linkages are made between theoretical material and clinical nursing practice. Findings indicate that nursing students did not link the elements of nursing process together, that clinical preparation was not linked to theoretical material, that the meaning students made of the information was different than the instructors' and that concepts from the basic sciences were not incorporated into student meaning structures. Implications for the use of concept maps as an educational strategy in continuing nursing education are drawn.