Conference Proceedings - School of Nursing & Midwifery - Trinity ...

School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin: 8 th Annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference
Transforming Healthcare Through Research, Education & Technology: 7 th – 9 th November 2007
Conference Proceedings
Action Research Cycles
This collaborate study used both action research and critical
ethnography to explore the nurses’ understanding and
demonstration of critical thinking, in clinical practice. Action
research involves group participation in setting the agenda, data
collection, analysis and distribution of the findings. Each cycle
consists of planning a change or improvement, acting, observing
the process, reflecting and re-planning. Critical ethnography
addresses the culture and the distribution of power. These two
approaches were combined and interchanged throughout the study.
Ethical approval was sought for the study prior to commencement.
The first cycle consisted of ten participants with experience from
three to twenty years, in paediatric critical care nursing. Two focus
groups were held to assess the nurses understanding of critical
thinking. The next cycle involved the activity of observing the
demonstration of CT skills in practice. This cycle included ten
sessions with five participants lasting four hours in the clinical
environment. The third cycle evaluated the previous two cycles and
concentrated on the feelings and experience of these five
participants, through individual interviews.
Each cycle in action research is revised on completion, with
collaboration and reflexivity among the participants and the
researcher, prior to moving onto the next stage. Throughout the
process, continuous consent and approval was sought from the
participants. The researcher is indebted to the participants, as
without their kindness and enthusiasm the research process would
be impossible.
Results
It evolved that most of the participants had a good understanding
of the term. They realised critical thinking occurs within everyday
practice in the PICU, but they found it hard to put the words into
context. The participants linked CT to the nursing process with
step-by-step nursing activities. These processes are similar but not
identical, as CT is used outside the nursing process and in situations
where by there is no problem to solve (Wilkinson 1996).
Unfortunately, discussions on reflection lead to negative
connotations. The objective is to reflect and learn from an
experience or event and to use this expertise in action.
I discovered the participants practised critical thinking at a
proficient level and demonstrated these skills, in a variety of
situations. Moreover, the participants were often unaware of their
reflective and cognitive abilities. In cycle three, the researcher used
vignettes as a brief synopsis to describe their analytical practise.
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