RESEARCH ARTICLE


Encounters in Home-Based Nursing Care - Registered Nurses’ Experiences



Britt-Marie Wälivaara *, Stefan Sävenstedt , Karin Axelsson
Division of Nursing, Department of Health Science, Luleå University of Technology, SE-971 87 Luleå, Sweden


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© Wälivaara etal.; Licensee Bentham Open.

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Division of Nursing, Department of Health Science, Luleå University of Technology, SE-971 87 Luleå, Sweden; Tel: +46 920 493848; Fax: +46 920 493850; E-mail: britt-marie.valivaara@ltu.se


Abstract

The encounter between registered nurses and persons in need of healthcare has been described as fundamental in nursing care. This encounter can take place face-to-face in physical meetings and through meetings via distance-spanning technology. A strong view expressed in the literature is that the face-to-face encounter is important and cannot entirely be replaced by remote encounters. The encounter has been studied in various healthcare contexts but there is a lack of studies with specific focus on the encounter in home-based nursing care. The aim of this study was to explore the encounter in home-based nursing care based on registered nurses’ experiences. Individual interviews were performed with 24 nurses working in home-based nursing care. The transcribed interviews were analyzed using thematic content analysis and six themes were identified: Follows special rules, Needs some doing, Provides unique information and understanding, Facilitates by being known, Brings energy and relieves anxiety, and Can reach a spirit of community. The encounter includes dimensions of being private, being personal and being professional. A good encounter contains dimensions of being personal and being professional and that there is a good balance between these. This is an encounter between two human beings, where the nurse faces the person with herself and the profession steadily and securely in the back. Being personal and professional at the same time could encourage nurses to focus on doing and being during the encounter in home-based nursing care.

Keywords: Encounters face-to-face, remote encounters, home-based nursing care, nurses, thematic content analysis.