"You feel really guilty" : an interpretative phenomenological analysis of prioritizing quantity over nurturing in nursing

Arevshatian, Lilith, Shantz, Amanda and Alfes, Kerstin (2015) "You feel really guilty" : an interpretative phenomenological analysis of prioritizing quantity over nurturing in nursing. In: 9th Biennial Conference of International Society of Critical Health Psychology (ISCHP): Health, Health Care and Social Justice; 12-15 Jul 2015, Grahamstown, South Africa. (Unpublished)

Abstract

Although the narrative of nursing is one of caring and nurturing, the need for significant cost savings in the National Health Service (NHS) has emphasized quantity and speedy patient turnaround. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was conducted on a purposive sample of six nurses in London. Participants shared that they experienced a conflict between wanting to give nurturing care and their managers’ emphasis on getting more “empty beds” for waiting patients. Participants had to prioritize speed and quantity which came at the expense of the more humane side of nursing e.g., emotional interaction with patients and their loved ones. In view of these findings, we discuss how conflicting expectations may interact in healthcare institutions and how these nurses navigated the complexity of working with contradictory imposed and self-imposed aims.

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