Towards a more place‐sensitive nursing research: an invitation to medical and health geography

Abstract

During recent years, nursing research has adopted and integrated perspectives and theoretical frameworks from a range of social science disciplines. I argue however, that a lack of attention has been paid in past research to the subdiscipline of medical geography. Although this may, in part, be attributed to a divergence between research priorities and foci, traditional 'scientific' geographical approaches may still be relevant to a wide range of nursing research. Furthermore, a recasting, redirecting and broadening of medical geography in the 1990s, towards what is termed health geography, has enhanced the discipline and provided a more cultural and expansive recognition of health, and a more comprehensive understanding of the dynamic relationship between people, health and place. Given the increasing range of places where health-care is provided and received, and some recent linkages made between nursing and place by nurse-theorists, these newer perspectives and concepts may be particularly useful for interpreting nurses' and patients' relationships both within and with a variety of healthcare settings and living spaces. Indeed, although a more place-sensitive nursing research is potentially a trans-disciplinary academic endeavor, a range of geographical approaches would be central to such a project.

An ethnographic organisational study of alongside midwifery units: a follow-on study from the Birthplace in England programme

“…There is little literature by geographers on maternity care, but the literature on geographies of nursing, like that of health and medicine, is growing rapidly. Andrews [41][42][43] and Andrews and Shaw 44 have written a number of introductory 'manifestos' for the geography of nursing, which explore the role of space in health-care organisations.…”

It's complicated: staff nurse perceptions of their influence on nursing students' learning

“…It is not surprising that, within this context, the nurses in the current study claimed ownership over certain spaces ( e.g., nursing stations, computers, and medication carts) where other health care providers and students may be viewed by the staff nurses as "visitors "or "outsiders." This finding is consistent with other research demonstrating that nurses perceive the ward and specifically the nursing station as 'their' space (Andrews, 2002;Halford & Leonard, 2003;Mannix et al, 2006).…”

“…They defined space as "geographic location and material form" (Nordquist et al, 2011, p. 391), whereas place was defined "not only by geographic location and material form, but by the meaning and value that people associate, attach and invest in physical space" (p. 391). Indeed Andrews (2002) argued that the understanding of place is important to all of nursing research. Attention to the meaning of place and space within health care delivery helps to elucidate the importance and complexity of the everyday microgeographies within which nurses work and students learn (Andrews, 2002).…”

“…Indeed Andrews (2002) argued that the understanding of place is important to all of nursing research. Attention to the meaning of place and space within health care delivery helps to elucidate the importance and complexity of the everyday microgeographies within which nurses work and students learn (Andrews, 2002). However, Liaschenko (2001) contended that nurses tend to take their experiential geographies for granted and rarely have the time to reflect on how their daily work is impacted by its location.…”

Transfusing our lifeblood: Reframing research impact through inter-disciplinary collaboration between health geography and nurse education

“…In the mid-1990s a series of key papers on the ethics of place by Liaschenko (1994;1996a, 1996b drew more directly on human geography and subsequently many review papers have encouraged and gradually articulated geographical perspectives in the nursing literature (see Andrews, 2002;Andrews, 2016;Moon, 2005a, 2005b;Carolan et al, 2006;Solberg and Way, 2007;Atherton and Kyle, 2014;Kyle and Atherton, 2016).…”