Ruth Bradley and Rosemary Ellis
Rosemary Ellis, Pioneer in Nursing Theory (1919-1986)
In 1964, Dean Rozella Schlotfeldt recruited Rosemary Ellis, a PhD. graduate in Human Development from the University of Chicago. Ellis was instrumental in establishing the Ph.D. program in nursing at the Bolton School and taught course in nursing theory from the inception of this program in 1972 until her death in the Fall of 1986. A nurse scientist, senior scholar, and influential teacher, her contributions to nursing philosophy and theory remain her legacy to the nursing profession.Ellis outlined a system of nursing knowledge built upon four types of inquiry: science, history, philosophy, and technology. Scientific research provided a way for the nurse to draw upon fields such as anatomy and biology to understand the internal physiological processes within the patient. Historical research enabled the nurse to understand the context of illness and its treatment, such as the distinction between a disease and a health-based approach to wellness. Philosophical research humanized the nurse through the study of ethics and taught empathy in patient care. Finally, technological research included studies of various nursing apparatuses and how effective they were in interactions with the patient.
Ellis argued that a nurse was one who could use scientific knowledge in a compassionate, caring manner to improve a patient's health. She said that care ultimately had the goal of "beneficence" which was simply "doing good for other human beings." Beneficence became the central theme of Ellis's life's work. Her conception of a nurse scientist was one who strove to refine, discover, and promote a body of knowledge which nurses could call their own and practice at the bedside.
Ellis's publications, now considered classics in the nursing cannon, reflect the mission of improved patient care through research and knowledge development. In a conference paper she presented in 1963 she said, "Explanatory knowledge is required to produce beneficence deliberately." Twenty-two years later, echoing this same sentiment in one of her last papers, she wrote, "Beneficence can only come with artful, ethical use of knowledge."
