Phenomenography: an alternative approach to researching the clinical decision‐making of nurses

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Abstract
In this paper, the limitations associated widi current research approaches to the study of clinical decision‐making are discussed. Research examining the clinical decision‐making of nurses and doctors, and associated work in information procession, is reviewed. It is concluded that although die research is valuable in furthering die understanding of clinical decision‐making, diere are limitations associated with die current research approaches. The limitations are primarily related to the research approaches employed and the concentration on experienced nurses. The research fails to examine die development of clinical decision‐making ability and die learning diat occurs in practice. Phenomenography is proposed as an alternative approach. The aim of phenomenography is to describe an individual's perception of a phenomenon. Phenomenography is relevant to die study of clinical decision‐making as it is concerned with variation in experience. When applied to die study of new graduate nurses, phenomenography can provide valuable information in relation to individual differences in learning diat arise from experience, what factors influence learning and how diey affect clinical decisionmaking ability