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CHAP TER

Patricia Benner

Caring, Clinical Wisdom, and Ethics in

Nursing Practice

Karen A. Brykczynski

“The nurse-patient relationship is not a uniform, professionalized blueprint but rather a kaleidoscope
of intimacy and distance in some of the most dramatic, poignant, and mundane moments of life.”
(Benner, 1984a)

range of clinical experience, including positions in acute
Credentials and Background of the medical-surgical, critical care, and home health care.
Philosopher Benner has a rich background in research and
Patricia Benner was born in Hampton, Virginia, and began this part of her career in 1970 as a postgraduate
spent her childhood in California, where she received nurse researcher in the School of Nursing at UCSF.
her early and professional education. Majoring in nurs- Upon completion of her doctorate in 1982, Benner
ing, she obtained a baccalaureate of arts degree from achieved the position of associate professor at the
Pasadena College in 1964. In 1970, she earned a master’s Department of Physiological Nursing at UCSF and
degree in nursing, with major emphasis in medical- tenured professor in 1989. In 2002, she moved to the
surgical nursing, from the University of California, San Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at
Francisco (UCSF) School of Nursing. Her PhD in stress, UCSF, where she was the first occupant of the Thelma
coping, and health was conferred in 1982 at the Univer- Shobe Cook Endowed Chair in Ethics and Spirituality.
sity of California, Berkeley, and her dissertation was She taught at the doctoral and master’s levels and
published in 1984 (Benner, 1984b). Benner has a wide served on three to four dissertation committees per

Previous authors: Jullette C. Mitre, Sr., Judith E. Alexander, and Susan L. Keller. The author wishes to express appreciation to Patricia
Benner for reviewing this chapter.

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