Project 2000 final report: a work plan for the future

Surgery: Between Both Anguish and Joy

Objetivo: describir las categorías que hacen parte de los factores causales de un esquema teórico que emergió durante la investigación: Conviviendo con la ambivalencia en las interacciones de cuidado. Método: cualitativa con enfoque en la teoría fundamentada. Se utilizaron técnicas como la observación, las entrevistas informales y formales a 20 pacientes, 19 auxiliares de enfermería y 8 enfermeras que laboran en diferentes centros quirúrgicos de segundo nivel del Valle de Aburrá. Resultados: se presentan las categorías relacionadas con los sentimientos y las emociones del paciente y del personal de enfermería al ingreso al centro quirúrgico, que hacen parte de los factores causales. Los pacientes desean la normalidad porque sienten molestias no solo físicas sino emocionales, pero también sienten ambivalencia frente al procedimiento quirúrgico. Desde el equipo de enfermería hay una disposición al cuidado porque las enfermeras se identifican en el trabajo para y con seres humanos y se responsabilizan del cuidado del paciente en este periodo. Conclusiones: el equipo de enfermería en cirugía debe estar consciente de la importancia de las dimensiones emocional, social y humana del cuidado y poner especial atención al temor y la ansiedad a los cuales están expuestos los pacientes; por tanto, el cuidado humano en este escenario es vital al ver al otro como un sujeto de atención en su contexto, con sus creencias y valores, aceptándolo tal cual es.

Development and definition of the role of the operating department nurse: a review

In the current cost-conscious National Health Service (NHS), the role of the nurse during anaesthesia and surgery is one that has interested health service managers keen to know what happens behind the closed doors of the operating department. It is clear that if nurses working within this specialized setting are to secure a future in providing care for surgical patients, then it is important to clarify and articulate exactly what it is that their role involves. The aim of this paper is to examine the role of the operating department nurse. First, it will illustrate how the role of the nurse has evolved alongside medical and technical advances in surgery, particularly in the last century. Second, it will highlight that while definition of the role has received attention in the North American literature, references in the British literature as to what it is that operating department nurses do, are scant. Finally, it will address the evolving role of the contemporary perioperative nurse highlighting the changes and challenges that nurses who work within this setting are currently facing. It is suggested here that nurses need to engage in role definition in order to be clear about their direction for the future, particularly within the fast changing, technologically driven environment of the operating department.

Exploratory study of nursing in an operating department: preliminary findings on the role of the nurse

This study was exploratory and describes how nursing was viewed and practised by nurses who worked in an operating department. It also highlighted factors that might influence the role performance of operating department nurses. The research involved interviews with a sample of 6 nurses working in an operating department, observation of 32 hours of nursing work over 6 operating sessions, in addition to the analysis of various documents, including the nursing care plans of 22 patients. Data were triangulated and analysed by constant comparison. Findings indicated that nurses had difficulty in articulating exactly what it was that operating department nursing entailed, but rather viewed their role in terms of the functions they performed. Observations indicated that the nursing role was primarily orientated toward the physical rather than the psychological aspects of care-giving. Furthermore, it appeared that the medical profession, nursing philosophy/leadership and the characteristics of patients all influenced the manner in which nurses enacted their role. These findings suggest that further research into the role of the nurse within the operating department environment is warranted. Key factors from this study were developed into a framework suitable for guiding future study of the nursing role in this environment.