The Epistemological Threshold: From Corps-Objet to Nursing Theory in the Clinical Maturation of Educators

This phenomenological study investigates the epistemological maturation of 11 early-career nursing faculty. In-depth interviews identified a critical experiential threshold in clinical practice. Initially, novices often remain phenomenologically confined to mechanical task execution, inadvertently objectifying patients (corps-objet). However, surpassing a 3-year clinical threshold facilitates a profound ontological shift: educators reclaim practical intention and perceive patients as lived subjects (corps-propre). This embodied clinical wisdom is a prerequisite for translating abstract nursing theory into authentic instruction. Consequently, sufficient clinical experience serves as an essential epistemological foundation for nursing knowledge generation amid sociopolitical pressures that accelerate academic pathways.