Aims and objectives

To extend nurses’ descriptions of how they understood caring, as reflected in the findings of an earlier study (i.e. the hierarchical outcome space) and to gain additional understandings and perspectives of nurses’ views of caring in relation to a coronary care patient case.

Background

Scientific literature from the 1970s–1990s contains descriptions of caring in nursing. In contrast, the contemporary literature on this topic – particularly in the context of coronary care – is very sparse, and the few studies that do contain descriptions rarely do so from the perspective of nurses.

Design

Qualitative descriptive study.

Methods

Twenty-one nurses were interviewed using the stimulated recall interview technique. The data were analysed using deductive and inductive qualitative content analysis.

Results

The results of the iterative and integrated content analysis showed that the data mainly reproduced the content of the hierarchical outcome space describing how nurses could understand caring; however, in the outcome space, the relationship broke up (i.e. flipped). The nurses’ views of caring could now also be understood as: person-centredness ‘lurking’ in the shadows; limited ‘potential’ for safeguarding patients’ best interests; counselling as virtually the ‘only’ nursing intervention; and caring preceded by the ‘almighty’ context. Their views offered alternative and, at times, contrasting perspectives of caring, thereby adding to our understanding of it.

Conclusion

Caring was described as operating somewhere between the nurses caring values and the contextual conditions in which caring occurred. This challenged their ability to sustain caring in accordance with their values and the patients’ preferences.

Relevance to clinical practice

To ensure that the essentials of caring are met at all times, nurses need to plan and deliver caring in a systematic way. The use of systematic structures in caring, as the nursing process, can help nurses to work in a person-centred way, while sustaining their professional values.