Methods
This study, with an overall goal of illuminating lived experiences, is
based on the underpinnings of a qualitative narrative approach and
interpretive orientation. This approach is founded on the idea that
humans individually and collectively construct meaning from their
relationships with one another53. Thus, narrative
methodology allowed us to interpret stories in terms of how they are
structured, told, and valued by those who share them, revealing
underlying ideologies54. As a concept, narrative
inquiry draws parallels with the field of narrative medicine—which
illuminates one’s ability to acknowledge, absorb, interpret, and act on
the stories of others. Like narrative medicine, narrative inquiry
reiterates the importance of a rich resonant comprehension of
individuals’ experiences55. Because narratives have
the power to improve the care of patients, renew physicians’ commitments
to their own health/fulfillment, support the care of their colleagues,
and reiterate the fidelity to medicine’s ideals, these contexts would
serve as important cornerstones for a study focusing on medical errors.
Additionally, narrative inquiry 1) accommodates inconsistencies in an
individual’s perception of their experiences, motivating the exploration
of these inconsistencies; 2) aligns with a natural tendency to share
harrowing experiences in the form of stories, allowing for purposeful
data collection; and 3) values the temporal context of people’s
experiences, which allows for a deeper exploration of the sequence of
events. In narrative inquiry, meaning is derived through the multiple
perspectives that are contributed across stories. Rather than just
telling a story (e.g., of how physicians experience their medical
errors), narrative inquiry aims to organize, explore, and make meaning
from multiple perspectives by piecing together a meta-narrative that is
constructed from the data56. The meta-narrative is a
story with an accompanying metaphor that is compiled through forming
linkages and identifying patterns within and between each individual
story told by a single participant. The creation of this meta-narrative
is a helpful way to understand this data because it illuminates the
voices of participants, while simultaneously applying new concepts and
principles from a metaphor (i.e., a parallel field).