Intuition is thought to be one of the defining characteristics of expertise. Evidence from various fields such as the military and nursing have shown that intuition is true. There are various definitions of intuition but most writers and researchers agree that it is characterized by five things: perception of the action is rapid, most individuals are not aware of the process they have undertaken, emotions are usually involved, there is a wholesome understanding of the situation at hand and more often than not the intuitive action taken is usually correct (Gobet, 2008).
The article “Towards an alternative to Benner’s theory of expert Intuition in nursing: A discussion paper” provides a clear description of Benner’s expert intuition theory. It lists the five stages from novice to the stage of an expert nurse. It details what entails every stage in Nursing. The critic mentions that Benner in her theories has done a lot to convince people of the importance of intuition in Nursing.
The article then describes some of the strengths of the theory. It notes that the theory is able to bring give an explanation of intuition in a simple way. The theory is also commended for insights that develop with the link between Nursing theory and nursing practice. These insights can only be seen in view of the theory.
The article raises weaknesses about the theory. One weakness is the studies used to come up with the theory. The criteria used to assign nurses to different stages between the novice and the expert has been criticized. The stages were also unclear as a nurse can be an expert in one field and may not be good in another field. The article compares the strengths and weaknesses of Benner’s theory and it is concluded that the weaknesses outweigh the strengths.
The article further describes a theory that can be used in place of Benner’s theory; this is the template theory of expert intuition as described by Gobet & Simon (1996, 2000). The article explains how the template theory can be applied and ends by comparing the two theories and giving reasons why they think the template theory is superior and more comprehensive than Benner’s theory.
The writer of the article, Fernand Gobet is a professor of Psychology at Brunel University, West London. The theorist is clear about the metaparadigm of nursing practice. He is clear that researches conducted about nursing practice in view of the issue of intuition are insufficient. He proposes that researches should not only involve quantitative studies but also qualitative studies and standard experiments. He is of the opinion that studies about intuition in nursing should not be separated from other studies in nursing but should go hand in hand. His view on the rest of the three metaparadigms of health, person and environment are unclear as he lays all his focus on the theory in relation to nursing practice.
One of the unique concepts about the theory is that it views memory as important in achieving expertise. The other theory does not mention any role played by memory as it also mentions a non-human application of the template theory of expert intuition which is in computers. This is unique.
The facts that the theory puts across is that chunks are important in developing expertise. These chunks are learnt during the novice stage and are retrieved when a nurse is faced with a situation that is similar to one experienced in the past. The theory still views all the four characteristics of intuition as important.
The theories have various points of agreement with other theories that include the Benner’s theory which can be used to form a basis of education of students (Gobet, 2005). Employers use different methods of determining the expertise of employees rather than the number of years of experience. The number of years may not necessarily mean that one is an expert. This theory has opened more avenues for research as the author notes that some areas such as intuition resulting in sub optimal solutions have not been explored.
References
Gobet, F. (2005). Chunking models of expertise: Implications for education. Applied Cognitive Psychology 19, 183–204.
Gobet, F., & Chassy, P. (2008). Towards an alternative to Benner’s theory of expert Intuition in nursing: A discussion paper. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 45, 129-139.