Comparisons are often drawn between qualitative and quantitative research. This article describes how qualitative research can be used to understand nurses’ experience of dressing changes without arguing that one approach is better than the other. In a hermeneutic phenomenological study, 18 nurses from across the continuum of care (acute, residential and community care settings) participated in taped interviews about what it is like to change a dressing. Using the interviews as a basis, the author provides an understanding of this experience for nurses and provides a context for the impact of phenomenological research.
