Unravelling Uncertainty Inception: When We Really Know That We Don't Know?

Cunha, Lara Daniela Matos; Ventura, Filipa; Pestana‐Santos, Márcia; Lomba, Lurdes; Reis Santos, Margarida

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.26/54426

Use this identifier to reference this record.

Name:	Description:	Size:	Format:
Cunha-2025-Unravelling-uncertainty-inception-w.pdf		288.98 KB	Adobe PDF	Download

Send Feedback

Authors

Cunha, Lara Daniela Matos

Ventura, Filipa

Pestana‐Santos, Márcia

Lomba, Lurdes

Reis Santos, Margarida

Abstract(s)

Through technical rationality, healthcare professionals address instrumental problems by applying the theory and technique arising from scientific knowledge. Nevertheless, the divergent situations of practice characterised by uncertainty, instability, and uniqueness place nurses in a positivist epistemological dilemma. Decision‐making under uncertainty is a challenge that nurses face in clinical practice daily. Nurses anticipate critical events based on the interaction between (un)known factors of clinical reasoning, putting uncertainty tolerance into perspective. With undeniable epistemological relevance, few nursing researchers have addressed this issue. Based on the insights garnered from the panel held at the 26th International Nursing Philosophy Conference, this discussion paper examines the inception of uncertainty within nursing reasoning, intertwining introspection, abstraction, and the rich discussions from the conference. Accordingly, the philosophical underpinnings of the perceived experience of uncertainty will be briefly addressed, while framing the decision‐making challenges faced by nurses. A compelling dimension of nursing care emerges when we delve into the inception of uncertainty, prompting a deeper examination of the interplay between its perception and consciousness in clinical practice, and the gravitation of uncertainty in the process of empirical reasoning. Navigating uncertainty involves varying individual responses, influenced by tolerance levels. Moral appropriateness is determined by their adaptability rather than solely their positivity or logical consistency, highlighting constancy as a quality demanding alignment with an understanding of challenges.

Keywords

clinical reasoning inception | nursing uncertainty

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.26/54426

Citation

Cunha, L. D. M., Ventura, F., Pestana-Santos, M., Lomba, L., & Santos, M. R. (2025). Unravelling Uncertainty Inception: When We Really Know That We Don't Know?. Nursing philosophy : an international journal for healthcare professionals, 26(1), e70004. https://doi.org/10.1111/nup.70004