Commentary: Conceptualising nursing theory and practice within a local cultural and professional context: a methodological example to inform theory development

There is nothing more satisfying for me than reviewing an academic paper that challenges the professional establishment a little.  This paper manages to do that, in my view, in three key ways. Firstly, it caught my attention in terms of challenging the historical context and the Anglo-Saxon influence on contemporary nursing. The paper provides us with a good overall background to the issue, allowing the reader to gain a fuller understanding of the historical development of the profession's theoretical underpinnings which have been dominated, in the main, by an Anglo-Saxon paradigm which has had global implications. Being an Irish Celt, any Anglo-Saxon challenge usually gets my full attention, however, I feel the authors could have focused their critique much more on the British influence on nursing which still persists in most contemporary global healthcare systems. Many countries continue to base their nurse education and practice on the Nightingale model. This influence is evident in the structure of nursing curricula, the emphasis on clinical training, and the professional ethos that values discipline, order, and compassion—all hallmarks of the British nursing tradition and most of which has influenced many Nursing Theorists.  Even our most prominent professional organisation, the International Council of Nurses (ICN), founded in 1899 by Ethel Gordon Fenwick, a British nurse, reflects British nursing ideals. The ICN's mission to advance nursing standards globally echoes the principles established by Nightingale and her successors (ICN, 2023).