[Too busy to think?].

A synthesis of current nursing knowledge by means of nursing theory construction is missing in German speaking countries. Unfortunately, due to this the nursing discipline cannot counterbalance the influence of other scientific disciplines with a self-created nursing specific theory. The level of theory construction in a discipline serves as sensitive indicator of intellectual state in this discipline. After the fruitful period from 1980 to 1990, the theoretical discourse in nursing almost disrupted while the number of empirical studies is increasing. This deserves to be discussed thoroughly with respect to further development of nursing theory. The theoretical discourse in nursing should generalise research findings in order to develop nursing theory in an inductive way - combined with a focus on patient's perspective in research and theory construction. New aspects and themes in health care as the demographical development and its epidemiological consequences, the increase and transformation of chronic illness as well as the changing role of the patient (participation, self-management) should be considered. The reanimation of a culture of discussion is only possible if scholars can dedicate time to it. Only under this condition reading and discussing research findings of other disciplines will be again on the agenda of scientific working and will - last but not least - inspire the construction of a nursing specific theory.