Technological Intimacy in Haemodialysis Nursing

Abstract

BENNETT PN. Nursing Inquiry 2011; 18: 247-252 Technological intimacy in haemodialysis nursing Technology plays a major role in nursing care. Among the challenges for nurses is being able to maintain a patient focus while surrounded by highly complex technology. The provision of high quality nursing care in technologically complex environments is particularly challenging when nurses develop relationships with their patients over an extended period of time. In these environments the potential for intimate relationships can increase. This potential for intimacy is evident in the haemodialysis context where dialysis technology, nurses and patients interface. As nurses and patients can spend up to 20 hours per week together intimate relationships can develop. This paper identifies the challenges these dialysis nurses face and introduces the concept of technological intimacy. Technological intimacy can be defined as physical touching and self disclosure, associated with closeness and knowing, that is undertaken in the full view of others in a healthcare environment dominated by technology. In the haemodialysis context technological intimacy has been scarcely acknowledged and rarely researched. Further research will assist in guiding haemodialysis nursing practice.

Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary Effects of Educational Intervention to Strengthen Humanistic Practice Among Hemodialysis Nurses in the Canton of Vaud, Switzerland: A Pilot Study

“…All this is congruent with the views of certain authors. For example, according to Bennett (2011), as HD nurses work in a technical care environment, they must develop both technical and interpersonal skills in order to offer quality care in their particular clinical context. This author has specified also that the technical dimension is only one part of care, not all of it.…”

“…Similarly, in a study by Moran, Scott, and Darbyshire (2009), patients undergoing HD remarked that their interactions with nurses were very superficial and centered primarily on their physical assessment at the expense of their needs, values, and expectations. According to Bennett (2011), this contributed to dehumanised care. This worrisome situation underscores the urgency for nurses to adhere to humanistic values, particularly those associated with Watson's (2008Watson's ( , 2012 theory of human caring, in order to offer person-centered care, including to patients undergoing HD sensitive to the quality of human relationships.…”

“…This point of view was echoed by Sankarasubbaiyan and Holley (2000), who recognised that nurses delivered a significant portion of the interventions during dialysis treatments. Moreover, for Bennett (2011), HD nurses must meet numerous challenges, such as maintaining a high level of competence in the technical and relational aspects of care in order to promote a holistic, person-centered nursing approach. In this regard, nurses' caring practice, which is expressed through the quality of the human relationship established between nurses and cared-for persons, the quality of the nurse's presence, and touch, is an essential ingredient in the development of a person-centered approach to care.…”

Doing ‘technological time’ in a pediatric hemodialysis unit: An ethnography of children

“…Researchers and theorists (Almerud, Alapack, Fridlund & Ekebergh, 2008;Barnard, 2002;Barnard & Sandelowski, 2001;Bennett, 2010Bennett, , 2011Bevan, 1998Bevan, , 2000McGibbon & Peter, 2008;Poland et al, 2005;Sandelowski, 2002;Tranter et al, 2009;Wynn, 2002;Zitzelsberger, 2004) have called for more research to investigate the nature and effects of technologies in and on specific places of care. Some studies explored nurses' views (Bull & FitzGerald, 2006;Marck, 2000;McGibbon & Peter, 2008;Tranter et al, 2009) and Allen et al (2011) andNagle (1998) identified the need to investigate similarities and differences between care recipients' and providers' perspectives of technologies and their settings.…”

The care preferences of patients under hemodialysis

“…The patients preferred to establish friendly relationships with their nurses. In a hemodialysis department, the patients and the nurses are in contact with each other for many years, which encourages the establishment of friendly relationships (27). The patients expressed their desire to have capable nurses take care of them and teach them empowering techniques (28).…”