Nurses as seen by patients: a phenomenological study.

OBJECTIVE: during the various periods of the history of the nursing profession, many differing representations of nurses have emerged in the collective imagination. The main purpose of this study, based on a qualitative approach, has been to discover the images of the nurse that patients retain in their minds when receiving care. METHODS: 6 sound-recorded focus groups were created, made up of patients and caregivers. These persons were members of 6 associations. The recordings and observations made were then analysed by adopting a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. RESULTS: 6 themes characterising nurses emerged: Training; Between flexibility and personalisation; Organisation and nursing; Continuity in caregiving; Professional maturity; and Relations. While these themes do not provide a uniform definition for the figure of the nurse they do present the profiles that had the greatest impact on persons receiving care. CONCLUSIONS: From the experiences collected among the participants in the focus groups, no pre-defined "image" of nurses emerged, and the stereotypes and prejudices described in the literature were also not to be found. Important indications did, in any case, emerge as to the type of nurse these people want, and concerning areas which must be worked on. These indications provide valuable information that, if acted upon, might contribute to the profession's growth and improvement. In brief, there are various planes of activity upon which nurses should concentrate their efforts: training (greater specialisation), organisation (greater flexibility), and the profession (consideration of professional identity in the light of the task of meeting patients' needs).

[Nurses and research: an analysis of two international nursing journals]. / Infermieri e ricerca: analisi di due riviste infermieristiche internazionali.

The intent of the article, dedicated to a series (Prof Inf, 4,2005:229-235 e 236-245) of what nurses write, two European Nursing journals are analysed by categorizing nursing research and non research articles comparing with two Italian refereed Nursing Journals. Results show a tendency of a prevalence of nursing research articles (quantitative and qualitative methods) for all categories in those European (J. Nurs Manag and J Adv Nurs) compared with a prevalence of non research articles in the two Italian refereed Nursing journals. Results sustain the necessity of a national scientific debate and more production of research for the scientificity of nursing and to better care.