Explore the intriguing world of clinical reasoning in postanesthesia care through the lens of phenomenology. This blog post delves into the experiences of uncertainty faced by nurses, shedding light on the complex interplay between personal certainties and scientific evidence in occupational medicine.
– by James
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“A Certainty for you Does Not Mean That it is a Certainty for Science”: A Phenomenological Analysis of Experiences of Uncertainty in Clinical Reasoning of Nurses in the Postanesthesia Care Unit.
Cunha et al., J Perianesth Nurs 2023
DOI: 10.1016/j.jopan.2023.08.024
This study explores the experiences of uncertainty in the clinical reasoning of nurses in the postanesthesia care unit (PACU). Using a phenomenological descriptive design, semistructured interviews were conducted with 14 PACU nurses. The data analysis revealed 10 themes related to uncertainty experiences: ambiguity and decision latitude, communication, work ethic, difficulty interpreting and predicting outcomes, cognitive performance impairment, incivility, core competence vagueness of postanesthesia nurses, high-tech care, (in)security and risk, and occupational stress.
The findings highlight that these experiences of uncertainty are highly focused on patient safety. This research contributes to the current literature by making uncertainty more tangible and explicit, which could help PACU nurses prepare for adaptive responses when dealing with uncertainty in clinical practice.