WORKING AS A COORDINATOR MIDWIFE IN A TERTIARY ...

What is a phenomenon?
Heidegger (1927/1962) wrote a phenomenon is “that which shows itself from itself” with
a caution that what appears to be, may be only a semblance or an appearance of the
phenomenon because “what we do see may not represent what we think it may represent,
or may only partially represent because the entities may be concealed in the ‘being’ of the
phenomenon” (p.58). Harman (2007) explains that Heidegger viewed the world as full of
entities, or events which are always partially obscured, “not thoroughly graspable from
the outside, and are never entirely exhausted by human thought” (p.175). I will show the
phenomenon of being a coordinator midwife in a tertiary hospital delivery suite setting in
this study.
Being and Dasein
The basis to this study is the work of Heidegger. Harman (2007) writes that “every great
thinker has one single great thought” and for Heidegger, Harman explains this revelation
was ‘Being’ (p.1). Being is our human existence or human presence in our life world,
which Heidegger also referred to as “Dasein” (Heidegger, 1927/1962, p.49). Harman
writes, “Dasein exists only as an act, event or performance of its reality not as something
visible from the outside” (p.33). For Heidegger, ‘being-in-the-world’ can only be
experienced by humans rather than animals or inanimate objects and it relates to humans
being open to their life world, interacting with it and being affected by it. This study
captures the Dasein of five coordinators.
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