ABSTRACT
It goes without saying that he or she should have a wealth of factual knowledge-general medical knowledge. The nurse must know, for example, the symptoms of senile dementia, symptoms which he or she usually learns to recognize in the course of training. For the last ten years or so, nursing training has been classified as tertiary education, and comprises a three-year theoretical course. The kind of knowledge that a nurse acquires in his or her universitylevel education can be passed on in the form of statements. ‘You should do this and that if you have a patient with this or that symptom.’ I call this part of a body of professional knowledge ‘prepositional knowledge’. Equipped with this knowledge and a little practical experience, the nurse faces the daily challenges of the care sector. At best, he or she can deal with the everyday problems that are encountered, provided that the patient’s symptoms agree with the description in the handbook. But the nurse is at a loss when confronted with a case which deviates from the description in the handbook. With his or her lack of experience the nurse is likely to adhere strictly to the rules that he or she has learned, no matter what form of reality is.
