Understanding experience in nursing

Background. This paper reviews research that considered the life stories of experienced nurses and the relationships between life experience, the way in which people find meaning in their experience(s), the development of nursing knowledge, and the influence of these events and understandings on the characteristics and clinical practice of experienced nurses.

Aims and objectives. The dominant perspectives in nursing about the place of experience in the development of nurses’ practice are considered and the paper argues for a broader understanding of experience; placing experience within the context of nurses’ lives, connection with others and their individual understandings about nursing care.

Relevance to clinical practice. The place of experience in the development of nurses has not been well understood although the nursing discourse continues to value clinical experience highly. Becoming experienced as a nurse is described as a progressive and continuous interaction between experience, meaning and the lived world resulting in a personal and unique understanding of practice. The culture and discourse of nursing have tended to exclude or dampen individual difference and the paper considers a more expansive understanding of the place of experience and individual difference in nursing and the relevance of this perspective for the education of nurses.