The double embarrassment: Understanding the actions of nursing staff in an unexpected situation

Abstract

A nursing home is a complex multifactorial environment that influences the decisions and actions of nursing staff. Many of the actions performed by nursing staff appear to be straightforward or simple because they are repetitive, encompassing everyday activities such as helping a resident to get up in the morning, shower or get dressed. These daily activities are usually performed smoothly as part of normal care. This article draws on ethnographic data from a study of caring practices in a nursing home with the aim of investigating how a seemingly ordinary, but unexpected, event can develop into a chaotic situation. Staff appeared to have difficulty managing the situation, and they seemed to be disorganized in the application of their skills. First, we describe the situation in detail before investigating and discussing the situation to provide a deeper understanding of the complexity of nursing home practice.

Recognition of the complexity facing residential care homes: a practitioner inquiry

“…The findings also indicate that care home staff are providing increasingly complex care, due to the unpredictable nature of the work, the complexity of residents’ needs, and taking over care that was once the domain of registered nurses (RNs). This challenges the assumption, given the repetitive nature of the care provided, or the definition of ‘personal care’ in The Health and Social Care Act (2008), that their work is somehow simple, routine or unskilled (Sandvoll et al 2013). An argument supported by the Cavendish Review (Cavendish, 2013), which agrees that any suggestion that social care staff are providing ‘basic care’ clearly underestimates the care they are providing.…”

When care situations evoke difficult emotions in nursing staff members: an ethnographic study in two Norwegian nursing homes

“…Furthermore, ethnographic studies are well suited for learning and advancing thinking of how unexpected situations in nursing practice are interpreted, experienced or understood [ 27 ]. This paper is part of a larger project that aims to describe and explore some characteristics of the implicit aspects of nursing home practice, as already reported [ 28 , 29 ]. It was important to explore and describe the informants’ views of their everyday practice [ 25 ].…”