Knowledge in nursing: contemplating life experience.

Nurses' life experiences result in a subjective way of knowing an event, a way of knowing that is embedded in beliefs, values, traditions, religious and cultural observances, and other contextual layers of life. Thus, in order to more fully understand nursing knowledge, we must illuminate knowledge that comes from life experience and examine how the context of nurses' lives, and practice, delimits its expression. Few authors have made explicit reference to nurses' lives outside clinical practice, or have sought to understand how life experiences contribute to the way in which they know nursing. This article describes life-informed knowledge, what it is and why it needs to be considered to further our understanding of nursing knowledge.