Working with data and categories

Over the last wee while i have been continuously working with the data. Having completed 2 focus groups i have alot of information to be working with.
Ive been drawing up "models" and trying to sort out how all the categories fit together.

My supervisor and I have realised that the "fit" for new grads in acute care practice is all about being able to clinically reason at pace. The models i have been playing with are no where near right YET, but every time i do another one it changes in some aspect and new bits get added. At the moment i am i guess focusing on the transition period and i have identified more questions that im interested in asking the participants about. Just picking the "right' participant is hard because they all to a degree have talked about some aspects of things i wish to go "futher into".

The transition is all around "bridging the gap" between student and new graduate or theory and practice. A comment that i am really interested in is "becoming conditioned" - and i guess this seems to fit with the idea of clinical reasoning at pace.

Ive been thinking today about how all this data is going to fit with my literature review section. This is something that im going to need to get clear relatively quickly so i can get on to making sure it is all going to fit together.

Another thing that is interesting me at the moment is the theme around support, and if this is different dependant on the individuals prev experience. Also how this relates to the hospital context and the support available. I have tried drawing some diagrams to compare the new grad with and without prev experience in acute and how long it takes them to establish clinical reasoning at pace. Im nto happy with these diagrams either - as i wanted to include the support in there but i not understanding if it is the same at first for all, then grad decreases - or if its different, or even changes over the course of the rotation.

Im also interested in what the particiants think about different types of acute settings. Whether one is "easier", "good to start in", not great for a new grad" or whether its one that they will be ready for after a few other rotations.

Another thing that is popping up in my head is - does clinically reasoning gradually develop or does it just happen one day? Also how can we determine that one person can reason at pace - in all clinical situations how complex or simple they are..

The "individual" is an interesting theme i think. We all know that everyone is different and that some people are more confidient..mature etc. But does the type of setting make any difference to how a new grad's "personality" or "attitude" fits or transitions into the work context?

Anyways these are the questions that popped up in my head during coding - memos etc.. so things i want to find out more about..


Those new grads that have no acute experience, how many struggle or jump straight in and strive?

How many new grads struggle all the way through a particular rotation?

How well do they reflect?
How much support do they need?
Does reflection help them develop and gain clinical reasoning skills at pace?

How many think outside the square?

How important is peer review and in-services, compared to supervision?

How well do they use the OT process?

Why is support from PT, SW and SLT good?

Is having enough support an issue for new grads?

How often do they respond to inappropriate referrals?

How do they take responsibility for referrals?

How well do they prioritise?
What are the implications of poor prioritisation? Examples.

What coping strategies do they use to manage rapid learning of skills such as prioritisation?

How well do they multi task?

How well do they make speedy decisions?
What factors make it hard to make speedy decisions?

Does a new grads support stay the same throughout the rotation/year or does it change. If it changes, how and why?

How would you define being safe in clinical practice?

Why is clinical reasoning different at first?
How long does clinical reasoning take to develop?

What is the purpose of a rotation programme?
What is it about the medical model acute service that makes it hard for new grads?

Is clinical reasoning different across cases?
What’s simple? What’s complex?

How do they balance working within a medical model, and applying the OT process/models?

How do they deal with team members who don’t value/know the OT role?

How do you know if a new grad is making sound clinical reasoning judgments?

Do the new grads realise the role as a new grad I as learning process?

Do you think the attitude of new grads differs across different acute settings e.g. orthopaedics vs. medical/neuro?

How well do they communicate with
a) OT collegues
b) The medical team
c) clients

Is the fit between new grads and acute looking at the context of the hospital or the clinical reasoning?

Is clincial reasoning in acute about knowing the recipe? Clinical reasoning or knowing the recipe??

How important is it having an acute placement in the fit and the speed of fitting?


Anyways meeting my superviser on Wed - then it will be time to organise the semistructured interviews

All 4 now