ABSTRACT
In Chapter 7, Heidegger's concept of 'thrownness' was explored in relation to students' experiences of unpreparedness, bewilderment and unfamiliarity in situations arising from nursing practice. Consequently these experiences resulted in students losing composure and feeling discomfited. Many of these experiences occurred during the early semesters when students were being exposed to the reality of clinical practice and the diversity of the nurse's role. It was evident that varying degrees or extents of thrownness had been experienced, which led me to develop the following taxonomy;-
Level 1 Unsatisfied anticipations - feeling inadequate Level 2 Feeling fazed - bewilderment Level 3 Considerable floundering - feelings of hostility Level 4 Rescuing Self from thrownness Level 5 Being rescued by others from thrownness
The latter is the most extreme form of thrownness that I could detect in the student data, but there may be other levels to discover. It was evident that students had the response of thrownness to various situations either because of their lack of knowledge or 'equipment readyto-hand' (Heidegger, p79). Leonard (1989) reminds us that nothing can be encountered without reference to our background understanding and that every encounter entails an interpretation based upon our background. It follows therefore, that if we do not have this 'background' on which to draw, the likelihood of being thrown is increased.
