The purpose of this qualitative study is to investigate the nature of tacit nursing knowledge practiced in the clinical field in Korea using hybrid models, and to clarify the definitions and attributes of the concept.

The definition and nature of tacit nursing knowledge, obtained through a review of the extensive literature at the theoretical stage of the research, and the analysis of the in-depth interview data conducted by the career nurses in the fieldwork stage, are compared and analyzed.

The tacit nursing knowledge was found in three dimensions as knowledge related to the person, the clinical situation work context, the self, the others, and the task. The tacit nursing knowledge was defined as personal nursing knowledge and artistic skills that show up as unconscious behavior patterns, learned informally, and internalized-through repeated clinical practice experience based on professional nursing knowledge.

Tacit nursing knowledge has been widely used in clinical practice and has been shown to have a great impact, directly or indirectly, on clinical nursing. Therefore, individual and organizational efforts are needed for validation and clarification using the generation, sharing, collection, and peer review of sound implicit nursing knowledge to ensure that it is properly applied.