The Critical Incident Technique (or CIT) is a set of procedures used for collecting direct observations of human behavior that have critical significance and meet methodically defined criteria. These observations are then kept track of as incidents, which are then used to solve practical problems and develop broad psychological principles. A critical incident can be described as one that makes a contribution—either positively or negatively—to an activity or phenomenon. Critical incidents can be gathered in various ways, but typically respondents are asked to tell a story about an experience they have had.
No, but I would suggest that with a cohort (say, a group of equal-level Family Medicine Residents, or even Faculty) each member has a (perhaps undefined until asked) overall impression of who in their cohort is "good" at cultural competence (either natively or taught) & who isn't. Usually, if probed, the basis of their opinion is grounded in some direct or indirect observation or reputation of that other person of their cohort. Within the elicitation of that opinion, & on what grounds it was held, would be your "story".
I can visualize an interesting research project which simply defines such a cohort (maybe in several different residencies), constructs a questionnaire to elicit both the individual & the "story (ies)", and collates the convergence of all the opinions to point out who does & who does not have that competence. Of course, reluctance to reveal information about a colleague would have to be overcome, by strict and convincing privacy policies and perhaps coding of names.
I suggest this, having had the pleasure of going back as Clinical Faculty 3 half-days/wk (while continuing my solo private practice in Family Medicine, for 5 years, some years ago). I did observe great latitude in the various abilities of residents & faculty in the area of "cultural competence". We developed course content to address it.
PG, MD
On a mundane and national level, I think you may have a problem with this definition of critical incident in any UK based research, as our national health service has adopted this term to describe any adverse event that affects patient care. Following the identification of a critical incident/event we use an investigatory approach similar to systems analysis to identify areas for procedural or clinical team improvements.
- Badges
- Science method
- Similar topics
- Methodology
- Research Methodology
- Qualitative Research