Benner’s Novice to Expert Model is an explanation of the professional development that nurses undergo right from theoretical y training to fully fledged professional healthcare providers. The model makes use of the Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition. The model advances through five stages namely novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient, and expert. The levels reveal two main aspects of professional development ( Ozdemir, 2019) . First, it distinguishes the changes in utilization of abstract experiences. Secondly, it distinguishes changes in the way nurses perceive and understand the demand of a situation so that a case is viewed as part of a whole aspect.
The first stage is novice. It is the beginning stage in which nurses have no experience but only make use of attributes features and domain specific facts. While focusing on context-free practice, individuals at this stage have limited performance. Nurses tend to relate clinical practices with theoretical knowledge. Novice nurses need to receive guidance on how to integrate theories into practice ( Benner, 1982) . The category of nurses also receives instructions that enable them to plan their action in relation to different attributes. Due to lack of experience, the nurses cannot make discretionary judgment, hence, use context-free guidelines. The stage is also characterized by rules that are applied universally.
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The second level of nursing experience is advanced beginner. At the stage, a nurse has engaged real life situations that a mentor can be able to point out. The nurse can note aspects, which are recurrent situational circumstances ( Davis & Maisano, 2016) . As opposed to the context-free attributes that novice nurses use, aspects in the advanced beginner stage are global characteristics that can only be recognized with from experience. The nurse has gained enough experience to take not of recurrent components. Individuals tend to implement care practices as task-oriented and routine.
The third level of nursing experience is the competent stage. While the nurses at this stage have good planning and organizational skills, they do not have the flexibility, command, and speed of proficient nurses. The nurses have better planning skills because they can predict the needs of patients based on their experiences ( Benner, 1984) . To maintain nursing competency, nurses engage in mentoring programs, residencies, and internships. By being able to recognize nature and patterns of clinical situations, competent nurses realize the need for agency and begin taking responsibility. The individuals at this stage view their actions in terms of long-term plans and goals.
The fourth level of nursing experience is the proficient stage. The nurse handles issues as wholes rather than in terms of aspects. With more than three years of experience, proficient nurses are able to make use of their analytical skills to respond to different clinical situations. The nurses use their experiences to modify plans for future events ( Benner, 1996) . The individuals are ready to take clinical leadership when necessary. They tend to give emotional approaches when responding to the situations of patients. The nurses engage ethical discernment, thinking, drive for action, and responsibility as they put individualized nursing care into practice.
The top-most level of nursing experience is the expert stage. An expert nurse uses experience to command response to clinical situations rather than using guidelines, rules, or principles. The individuals are able to develop automatic judgment based on their knowledge and experience. With the ability to analyze in-depth nursing interventions, expert nurses can initiate new nursing researches, models, and theories. Achievements and recommendations by experts are important inputs in developing national and international policies of individualized care practices. Instead of using fractionated and procedural performance, expert nurses use holistic performance. The uniqueness of the novice to expert model is that it is based on the use of principles, perceptions, and experiences.
Based on the Benner’s Novice to Expert Theory, I can trace my progress as far as my nursing professional development is concerned. Currently, I can comfortably appreciate my stage of professionalism to be the competent stage ( Benner & Wrubel, 1989) . I have been in the nursing practice for more than three years. I find much consistency with Benner’s Novice to Expert Theory. Though I can plan and organize individualized care when responding to patient situation, I do not have the confidence to move with speed and flexibility while implementing the nursing practice. Otherwise, I believe in my experience and the ability to utilize analytical thinking in delivering clinical practice.
I have had a progressive journey to achieve the competent stage of nursing experience. I joined the novice stage as a student. I had difficulty in transforming my theoretical knowledge into practical work (( Benner, 1984) . I used my dedication and passion to inquire from my seniors through intensive consultation. I later gained a little practical experience and believed to have graduated to the advanced beginner stage. I utilized my passion to gain more experience. I could then view situations in terms of aspects. I could not still be able to make independent decisions but gained much from the recurring components. Today, I belong to the component stage where I have good planning and organizational skills apart from being able to use analytical thinking.
I intend to advance my professional experience to achieve the expert level. I would achieve that by developing my experience from the use of abstract principles and rules to commanding clinical practice on individualized care. I plan to acquire the skills to transform from viewing situations in discrete perceptions but as whole parts. I will be able to use my experience in demonstrating resource-based practice.
References
Benner, P. (1982). Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. The American Journal of Nursing , 82 (3), 402-407.
Benner, P. (1984). From novice to expert. Menlo Park .
Benner, P. (1996). A response by P. Benner to K. Cash,“Benner and expertise in nursing: a critique”. International journal of nursing studies , 33 (6), 669-674.
Benner, P. E., & Wrubel, J. (1989). The primacy of caring: Stress and coping in health and illness . Addison-Wesley/Addison Wesley Longman.
Davis, A., & Maisano, P. (2016). Patricia Benner: Novice to expert-A concept whose time has come (again). Oklahoma Nurse , 61 (3), 13-15.
Ozdemir, N. G. (2019). The Development of Nurses’ Individualized Care Perceptions and Practices: Benner's Novice to Expert Model Perspective. International Journal of Caring Sciences , 12 (2), 1279.
