Dimensions of care in five United States nursing homes: identifying invisible work in care-giving

Description of work processes used by clinical nurse specialists to improve patient outcomes

“…Computers may help with articulation of assembling, scheduling, monitoring, and coordinating all of the steps necessary to complete a production task. However, older Jackson (1997) examined routine prescribed care for nursing home residents and found that non-routine or personal care, such as bringing a card or flowers, taking residents for a walk, setting up a talking book program, or putting on a patient's glasses for her, was of great importance to residents. This caring work used the individual care-worker's knowledge and judgement to articulate the daily care routine for the residents, which contributed to overall patient satisfaction with care.…”

Working in and around the ‘chain of command’: power relations among nursing staff in an urban nursing home

“…This tendency to portray NA work as unskilled was arguably related to aides’ internalization of the devaluation of paraprofessional work, as well as women’s work (such as care‐giving), in American culture (Jackson 1997).…”

“…All you're doing is taking a person to the bathroom, toileting that person, feeding that person, and changing that person. This tendency to portray NA work as unskilled was arguably related to aides' internalization of the devaluation of paraprofessional work, as well as women's work (such as care-giving), in American culture ( Jackson 1997).…”

Developing relationships in long term care environments: the contribution of staff

“…Given that the main goal of care homes is to provide care for residents, it is not surprising that studies which focus on caring have found that residents, families and staff describe how relationships between residents and staff are integral to this process (Grau & Wellin 1992, Gjerberg 1995, Jackson 1997, Deutschman 2001). A common theme included how the emotional aspect of caring was vital to caring relationships, leading to feelings of being ‘connected’ (Jackson 1997), ‘not being forgotten’ (Deutschman 2001) with staff spending time to attend to small details (Gjerberg 1995). Grau et al.…”