The culture of general palliative nursing care in medical departments: an ethnographic study

Abstract

GPNC as a culture in medical departments seemed to be embedded in a setting not suited for dying patients. Palliative care was still practised according to the transition model of care, sharply dividing curative from palliative care, and was inappropriately conducted in a fragmented and individual-based way. The term 'loving care' was used as a 'gate-opener' to provide palliative care for the dying; however, the content of this term was not defined or expressed among the health professionals. Practical and professional nursing skills are not sufficient to improve GPNC in the hospital department. Leaders on all levels need also to address the culture in which palliative care is embedded.

Does patient coaching make a difference in patient-physician communication during specialist consultations? A systematic review

“…The intervention could have been provided groupwise or individually and had to be related to consulting a medical specialist. Communication support in curative trajectories may differ from support in palliative trajectories [26] and [27], therefore we limited our search to interventions in curative settings ( Table 2).…”

The state of Danish nursing ethnographic research: flowering, nurtured or malnurtured – a critical review

“…In a range of studies (34 of 45), the participant's perspective constituted the argument for the relevance of the ethnographic method and was explicit in study aims, that is Bergenholtz et al who wrote: ‘… to describe and understand cultures by grasping the insiders’ (the natives’ and participants’) point of view’ (p. 2259), and Andersen et al who set their objective to: ‘…understand another way of life from the point of view of the people concerned’.(p. 271), and in Danbjørg et al where the authors sat the purpose of the observations to: ‘get a grasp of the problem in the local setting’ (p. 726).…”

“…Four studies focused on the experience of temporality , body and touch in relation to health challenges. One study explicitly aimed at exploring the culture of nursing care in medical departments . However, several studies implicitly investigated the cultural characteristics of the healthcare system, its participants, healthcare activities, communication and communicative instruments.…”

“…Dalgaard et al investigated ‘clinical phases in incurable illness trajectories’ which seemed difficult to do outside the hospital whereas it should be possible to study ‘perceptions of illness based on abnormal smears’ outside the hospital. Traditionally, a hospital is ‘the natural context of nursing’, since this is where nurses mostly train their practical skills during their education and some may be employed in afterwards during research and development studies . Spradley urged researchers to choose social situations with frequently recurring activities.…”

“…This did not influence the above count. Samples in the included studies ranged from observation of 180 patients and 23 interviews (47) to studies with four (39) or five participants (10); however, there were also studies without information about the sample size (30,42,46).…”