A practice discipline that's here and now

There is a vacuum for a practice discipline of nursing that would enable nurses to articulate the significance of what they do as an essential thread of contemporary healthcare provision. This article is an effort to develop the meaning and possibilities of a practice discipline for nursing. Timing into the general shift in thought about our human condition across disciplines and nations, we consider features of a participatory paradigm, which, when refocused on the humanness of the health circumstance, informs our approach to a practice discipline. Knowledge is personal and participatory, evolving in the here-and-now of health systems. Research integral to practice and service innovation illustrates the way of looking and talking about a new phase in discipline development. The discipline is relational and creative in practice, evolving in the forums for dialogue. Each one of us as nurses has responsibility in participation.