Understanding Technology in Contemporary Surgical Nursing: A Phenomenographic Examination

Abstract

Technology is important to nursing, health care and society and the experience and understanding of the phenomenon in nursing needs to be described better. The purpose of this research is to identify and describe the qualitatively different ways technology is understood and experienced by contemporary surgical nurses. A review of the literature indicated that there is limited research published investigating technology in nursing and no available research investigating the qualitatively different ways in which surgical nurses experience and understand the phenomenon. The literature lacks conceptual mastery of the phenomenon, relies on commonplace assumptions and arguments, and is unaware of opinion and debate regarding the experience of technology in disciplines outside the domain of nursing. Assertions concerning the experience of technology in nursing are unsubstantiated. The literature is dominated by claims which are reflective less of scholarly debate than they are of an underlying technological imperative and desire to advance nursing through involvement with machinery and equipment. In order to describe the experience of technology as it is experienced and understood by nurses, a phenomenographic approach was chosen. Phenomenography describes from a second order perspective, reflected understanding of the experience of phenomenon.