Helping students apply a nursing conceptual framework in the clinical setting.

The author describes one way of helping nursing students apply a nursing conceptual model in their patient care experiences. A structured data collection tool designed to secure data on salient aspects of the nursing model is described and illustrated in part. Students reported that using this tool in daily patient care helped them transfer classroom content on nursing theory to their patient care experiences and guided their assessments of their patients according to the dictates of the model.