| Course | NURS 8114 Theoretical and Scientific Foundations of Nursing |
|---|---|
| Week | Week 1 |
| Paper type | Discussion post with two peer replies |
| Length | About 600 words, 4 pages |
| Format | Discussion post, APA 7 citations |
| School | Walden University |
| Program | Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for NURS 8114 Week 1
Week 1 Discussion: Initial Post
A Dog at the Bedside of a Dying Man: Which of Carper's Patterns of Knowing Carries the Decision
The four ways of knowing Carper (1978) named, empirical, ethical, personal and aesthetic, are usually recited in her order. Instead of reciting them, I want to test them against one composite decision and show which pattern carries the argument. A 72-year-old retired farmer is dying in our intensive care unit after a massive stroke. He is unresponsive, and his family has chosen comfort care. His wife asks whether his old farm dog, which has not left his side in twelve years, can visit before he dies. Our unit has no policy on animal visits.
Ethical knowing leads, because the question is first about what we owe a dying patient who cannot speak and a family facing his death. The obligation to honor what mattered to him, and to support his wife, weighs against obligations to other patients on a shared unit, including those at risk of infection. Ethical knowing does not settle the question, but it frames it: this is a decision about goods in tension, not about rules.
Empirical knowing follows and must be kept modest. It can tell us that animal-assisted interventions have been used in intensive care units with attention to infection control and safety, and that clinicians describe them as a way to humanize critical care (Hosey et al., 2018). It can point to published guidance on screening animals and limiting contact to reduce infection risk (Lefebvre et al., 2008). It cannot tell us whether this dog's visit is right for this man. Evidence informs the conditions; it does not make the choice.
Personal knowing, my own knowledge of how I relate to this family and to my own feelings about death, matters here more than I expected. I grew up with farm dogs, and I have to ask whether my eagerness to say yes is about the patient or about me. Aesthetic knowing, the art of seeing the whole situation, is what finally lets the nurse design a visit that fits: a side door, a short visit, a clean blanket on the bed, the curtain drawn.
My ranking: ethical knowing carries the decision, aesthetic knowing shapes how it is carried out, empirical knowing sets the safety conditions and personal knowing keeps me honest about my own reasons. Question for the thread: which pattern would lead in a decision you have faced?
Reply to Anika
Anika, you ranked empirical knowing first, arguing that infection risk must be settled before anything else. I understand the priority, and in a unit with immunocompromised patients next door, it may deserve more weight than I gave it. But I would still place it second. The evidence can tell us how to reduce risk; it cannot tell us whether a reduced risk is worth accepting for this man's last hour. That judgment is ethical. Carper (1978) argued that no single pattern is sufficient for nursing practice, and this case seems to show why: the evidence sets limits, and ethics decides within them.
Reply to Marcus
Marcus, your point that aesthetic knowing is often dismissed as bedside manner is well taken. In this case it is doing real work: arranging the visit so that it is safe, dignified and brief is a skill, and a nurse who lacks it could turn a meaningful moment into a disruptive one. Chinn and Kramer (2018) describe aesthetic knowing as the capacity to perceive what is significant in a situation and to act in a way that fits it, which is exactly what designing this visit requires.
References
Carper, B. A. (1978). Fundamental patterns of knowing in nursing. Advances in Nursing Science, 1(1), 13-24. https://doi.org/10.1097/00012272-197810000-00004
Chinn, P. L., & Kramer, M. K. (2018). Knowledge development in nursing: Theory and process (10th ed.). Elsevier.
Hosey, M. M., Jaskulski, J., Wegener, S. T., Chlan, L. L., & Needham, D. M. (2018). Animal-assisted intervention in the ICU: A tool for humanization. Critical Care, 22, Article 22. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13054-018-1946-8
Lefebvre, S. L., Golab, G. C., Christensen, E., Castrodale, L., Aureden, K., Bialachowski, A., Gumley, N., Robinson, J., Peregrine, A., Benoit, M., Card, M. L., Van Horne, L., & Weese, J. S. (2008). Guidelines for animal-assisted interventions in health care facilities. American Journal of Infection Control, 36(2), 78-85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2007.09.005
What the NURS 8114 Week 1 instructions ask for
Week 1 prompts typically have you bring Carper's fundamental patterns of knowing to a situation from practice to bear on a real case and explain how the patterns interact. Expect an initial post of roughly five hundred words and replies to at least two classmates. Pick one decision rather than a general reflection on nursing, because the patterns only become visible when they pull in different directions. Define each pattern briefly from Carper's own article. Then say which pattern leads in your decision and why, and treat the others as supporting or limiting it. Close the post with a question that asks classmates to rank the patterns in a decision of their own. Keep personal detail short and clinical detail composite.
Inside the NURS 8114 Week 1 example
The first paragraph sets the case: a stroke patient on comfort care, a wife's request and a unit with no policy. Ethical knowing is framed as a conflict between goods, the dying man's wishes against risk to neighbors. Empirical knowing is kept modest, citing Hosey and colleagues on animal visits in intensive care and Lefebvre and colleagues on screening animals. Personal knowing admits the author grew up with farm dogs. Aesthetic knowing designs the visit: a side door, a clean blanket, a drawn curtain. A highlighted ranking closes the post. The reply to Anika holds that evidence sets limits while ethics decides within them. The reply to Marcus cites Chinn and Kramer on aesthetic knowing as perception of what matters.
NURS 8114 Week 1 rubric: what earns full marks
Posts on the patterns of knowing are generally scored on accurate definitions, application to a real situation, synthesis across the patterns and peer engagement. Definitions earn credit when they come from Carper rather than a summary chart. Application usually carries the largest weight and rewards a single, specific decision in which the patterns can be seen working. Synthesis credit goes to posts that rank or relate the patterns instead of giving each an equal paragraph. Replies are rewarded for a reasoned position, including respectful disagreement with a classmate's ranking. Current scholarly sources, correct APA citations and posting on time complete the usual criteria. Faculty also notice when personal knowing is treated honestly rather than as a feeling.
NURS 8114 Week 1 help: mistakes that cost marks
Posts on Carper lose marks when they give one paragraph per pattern and never say how the patterns relate. Another frequent loss comes from a situation described so generally that no pattern has anything to decide. Some posts confuse personal knowing with personal opinion, or treat aesthetic knowing as bedside manner alone. Others cite a textbook table instead of the original article. Choose one decision, define the patterns briefly, rank them with a reason and let the replies test the ranking. The desk can draft a post around a situation from your own practice, with identifying details removed. Read Carper's article once through before writing, because her definitions are narrower than most summaries suggest.
Get a NURS 8114 Week 1 example written to your instructions
Send your section's discussion prompt and the rubric that grades it, along with the reply count required, and a post built on those terms follows within 24 to 48 hours, the first one free. The resuscitation scenario here is fictional; the decision your own post defends should come from a situation you know.
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NURS 8114 Week 1 questions, answered
Should the post cite Carper directly or a textbook that summarizes her?
Directly, wherever the library holds the original article. Textbook summaries tend to compress the four patterns into one-line definitions, and personal knowing in particular loses the sense Carper gave it. The example cites her once, where the patterns are introduced, and uses secondary sources only for later developments such as the argument that the patterns should be integrated rather than applied one at a time.
Where can I find a free NURS 8114 Week 1 sample paper?
The initial post on the dog at the bedside and both replies, with four references, are posted on this page without charge. A post on a decision from your own practice can be requested.
Which pattern of knowing leads in the NURS 8114 Week 1 post?
Ethical knowing, because the request is a question of what the unit owes a dying man and his wife against its duties to other patients. Evidence sets the safety conditions, but it cannot decide whether the risk is worth accepting.
Why does the post discuss the author's own feelings about dogs?
That is personal knowing at work. The author asks whether eagerness to approve the visit serves the patient or the nurse, which is the kind of self-awareness Carper described.
Does the NURS 8114 Week 1 post name a hospital or patient?
No. The farmer, his wife and the unit are composite, and the post says so. Real identifying details do not belong in a discussion board.