Caring in a technological environment: How is this possible?
Selma Alliex
Coordinator, Postgraduate Studies, School of Nursing, College of Health, Notre Dame University, Fremantle WA
Vera F Irurita
Adjunct Professor, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Curtin University of Technology, Perth WA
PP: 032 - 043
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to develop a substantive theory explaining the process of nurse-patient interaction in the presence of technology. The grounded theory method was chosen to undertake this research. The study's informants consisted of nurses and patients.
The findings of the study indicated that the issue for nurses was that they were blocked in their person-centered interactions with patients in the presence of technology. This article will address one of the strategies nurses used to deal with this problem. This strategy was termed maximizing. Even after being blocked by various factors, nurses attempted to work within the constraints that caused them to be blocked, to achieve person-centered interactions. Maximizing was characterized by the nurses' added effort in trying to meet the humanistic needs of the patient in the presence of technology. The focus of the interaction was person-centred.
Keywords
nurse-patient interaction; presence of technology; grounded theory methodology; maximizing
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