Exploring the learner's world: critical incident methodology

Critical incident tools are data collection instruments that can reveal the world view and experiences of the nurses who write them. The methodology is drawn from the phenomenological research tradition. Brookfield (1990b) describes critical incidents as situations or events that are vividly remembered and hold special significance for the writer. Using Brookfield's recommendations, nurse educators at Alberta Children's Hospital in Calgary, Alberta, Canada have developed a successful critical incident tool that has allowed them to gain a richer understanding of staff nurses' issues, needs, and concerns. This paper will describe the tool in detail, the situations in which it has been used, and the value of the technique in general to nurse educators in the workplace.