The future of nursing: how important is discipline-specific knowledge? A conversation with Jacqueline Fawcett. Interview by Dr. Janie Butts and Dr. Karen Rich.

Nurses have long attempted to secure a unique identity for the profession. Many scholars are now promoting an interdisciplinary framework for nursing practice. Fawcett is convinced that interdisciplinary practice poses a danger for nursing to lose its identity and that interdisciplinary practice cannot be successful if members of each discipline do not understand the conceptual models, practice, and research of their own discipline. Dr. Janie Butts and Dr. Karen Rich interviewed Dr. Jacqueline Fawcett about her views related to discipline-specific knowledge and nursing's future. The authors conclude that Fawcett's scientific foundation gives nursing the solidarity and power necessary to determine the unique internal goods of its practice.