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Generating Middle Range Theory: From Evidence to Practice Callista Roy, New York, NY: Springer Publishing, 2013, 402 pages, $69.00
Ever since nursing established itself as a profession and began generating its own knowledge, there has been an ongoing knowledge-practice gap. Although nurses have been generating their own specialized knowledge through the use of research and theory, clinical nurses have not been applying this knowledge consistently in practice. This is certainly a concern because a gap between knowledge and practice limits the impact of nursing care (Roy, 2014). It is difficult to argue that a profession is a unique entity that stands apart from other professions if the practicing clinicians are not using their own knowledge reliably. In Sister Callista Roy's latest book, Generating Middle Range Theory: From Evidence to Practice, a clear, detailed description is proposed regarding a new way of closing the knowledge-practice gap by using middle range theories (MRT) as key to translating nursing science into practice.
Generating Middle Range Theory: From Evidence to Practice describes a clearly defined approach to using theory and research at the practice level by generating MRT from published studies. What makes her approach unique is that all of the research used is based on a single grand theory: the Roy Adaptation Model (RAM). Roy has the advantage of access to decades of published research based on her grand theory, which makes her a perfect theorist for initiating this innovative process. The six-step approach presented by Roy is not only innovative but also sustainable in generating new nursing knowledge over the course of many years. Fortunately, Roy is not the only theorist with years of published research based on her...