The nursing process is a very linear method that does not require that the nurse use knowledge gathered over the years; instead it requires an objective assessment of data accessible to the senses. Although this method should assure uniform practice, it will not assure quality practice. Some authors liken it to the scientific method. It is not. The scientific method begins with a perceived problem which is defined as facts, events, or situations that lack explanation or that are incongruent with accepted beliefs, expectations, or preconceptions. Without expectations, and beliefs, life holds no surprises and no problems. Only with years of accumulated experiences can expert nurses quickly determine the problems and "the solutions to problems using experience-based holistic recognition of similarity which produces deep situational understanding." This understanding and the solutions to problems may be and should be different for each nurse. This is not so when nurses use the nursing process. All phenomena are abstracted from the personal; they are context free. The Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition, related to nursing by Benner, explains this kind of practice as Novice. The Expert, on the other hand, "knows what to do based on mature and practiced understanding. Experts solve problems using know-how, the sort of ability we all use all the time as we go about our everyday tasks." They know problems without analyzing them; they sense them. Benner states, "If experts are made to attend to the particulars or to a formal model or rule, then performance actually deteriorates."(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)