Registered nurses' perceptions of their roles in medical‐surgical units: A qualitative study

Abstract

Aim The aim of this study was to gain insight into the perception of nurses about their roles in medical‐surgical units. Background As a result of ever‐changing work environments, medical‐surgical nurses find it difficult to know and practice according to the full scope of their roles. Design A qualitative descriptive study. Methods Semi‐structured individual interviews were conducted with 21 nurses on three campuses of a large tertiary care hospital located in Quebec, Canada. Thematic analysis was used to construe meaning from the interviews. This research adheres to the Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research guidelines and checklist. Results The data analysis resulted in three main themes: (i) confusion in nurses' roles and scope of practice; (ii) challenges in the continuity of care and (iii) factors affecting the roles of nurses in medical‐surgical units. Conclusion Attention must be paid to the care continuum as it represents a critical element for surgical patients' quality and safety of care. Relevance to clinical practice Medical‐surgical nurses should understand their roles and the factors that limit their full scope of practice in order to provide and manage complex care situations. Additionally, an interdisciplinary approach is a strategy that may better respond to patients' clinical needs across the surgical journey.

Nurses’ experiences of moral distress and how it affects daily work in surgical care—a qualitative study

“…A previous study by Nazon et al. (2023) confirms patient safety risks caused by a lack of resources and their consequences; when workload increases, the risk of misjudgement also increases. Previous scientific evidence also highlights those four patients per nurse versus six patients per nurse is associated with better patient outcomes, such as fewer hospital‐associated infections, shorter length of stay, fewer readouts, higher patient satisfaction and lower rates of nurses experiencing burnout (Coster et al., 2018; McHugh et al., 2021).…”

“…Previous studies shown that nurses need to choose between administrative tasks and spending time with patient's bedside, and our findings are similar. This is described in the literature as an internal conflict of nurses due to their own demands and the goal of being a good nurse (Furåker, 2009; Nazon et al., 2023; Suhonen et al., 2018; Yngman‐Uhlin et al., 2016). The gap between nurses' own demands and reality becomes overwhelming and affects nurses' mental well‐being (Jakobsson et al., 2023; Sastrawan et al., 2019; Suhonen et al., 2018).…”

Post‐operative nursing activities to prevent wound complications in patients undergoing colorectal surgeries: A scoping review

“…For example, in a study of 60 surgical nurses conducted in an Australian hospital, more than one‐third of nurses did not use clean gloves properly during postoperative surgical wound management, and more than half did not provide postoperative wound management education to patients (Ding et al., 2017). Moreover, surgical nurses struggle to articulate the specific activities they undertake to prevent postoperative complications (Nazon et al., 2023). Overall, nurses' lack of role clarity and variation in practice, may inhibit nurses' ability to influence postoperative outcomes.…”