Breaking the Silence: Marginalisation of Registered Nurses employed in Nursing Homes
Margaret M Hall
School of Nursing, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA
PP: 232
Abstract
This paper reports on a study which employed auto/biography as a research method to expose the marginalisation and discrimination experienced by Registered Nurses (RN) employed in the nursing home sector. By virtue of their area of practice, these nurses are frequently perceived by the wider nursing community and society at large to be deskilled and not competent. A critical incident from my story is recounted and thereafter discussed from a personal perspective and with a wider context of nursing and related literature. I argue that the complexity of clinical practice in a nursing home means the RNs are no less skilled or competent than RNs in other clinical settings. However, marginalisation and discrimination occur because nurses and nursing are not isolated from the values and beliefs of society. This is a society which under values caring and nurturing and places a higher value on complex technologies with an emphasis on cure being the dominant ideology. The style of reporting the research is congruent with an auto/biographical approach.
Keywords
reflection, autobiography, gerontic nursing, long term care, registered nurses
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