Visualism in Community Nursing: Implications for Telephone Work with Service Users

Abstract

This article explores the potential effects of visualism (a prejudice in favor of the seen) on the perceived legitimacy of telephone work in community nursing. It discusses data from an exploratory study on telephone work, which used guided interviews with a purposive sample of 14 community nurses. Interviewees expressed both positive and negative ideas about telephone work and had particular concerns about the assessment of people, context, problems, and comprehension by telephone. These issues are discussed with reference to publications on visualism, metaphor, communication, and nursing work. The authors conclude that an awareness of the possible effects of visualism on ideas and practice could lead to improvements in both communication and assessment, whether carried out by telephone or face to face.

`Carer and gatekeeper' – conflicting demands in nurses' experiences of telephone advisory services

“…Nursing knowledge could be described as a combination of theoretical knowledge, practical experience and a specific professional identity (24). The nurses in this study stated that their ability to listen to what was unsaid had developed over the year by experience and `learning‐by‐doing', which is in line with other studies (7, 8). The knowledge described by the nurses seems to be tacit knowledge , described by many authors, for example, Josefsson (25).…”

“…Yet, it seems as if the nurses involved in the services experience anxiety about assessing people and their health problems. There is always a risk that the wrong measures have been taken and the nurses need to make complex decisions after talking only for a short time with the caller (7, 8). Nursing students are taught very little, if anything at all, about handling a telephone encounter, despite the frequent calls in all areas of nursing.…”

Retrospective comparison of patient outcomes after in-person and telephone results disclosure counseling for BRCA1/2 genetic testing

“…Telephone counseling has been investigated as an alternative to in-person counseling in a variety of health-care setting over the last decade [10][11][12][13]. Based on these studies and others related to the provision of genetic counseling services by telephone, the possible benefits of telephone counseling include convenience for practitioners and patients, reduction in stress, anxiety and time associated with clinic visits for patients, and increased accessibility to genetic counseling services [12][13][14][15].…”

Real nursing? The development of telenursing

“…Telenursing has been explored in a preliminary way in general practice (Charles‐Jones et al. 2003b) and community nursing (Wilson & Williams 2000). However, there is still much work to be performed to understand telephone‐based clinical decision‐making processes and nursing practice issues.…”