Add like
Add dislike
Add to saved papers

Collaboration at risk: registered nurses' experiences on orthopaedic wards.

AIM: To extract meaning from registered nurses' lived experiences in their professional collaboration with orthopaedic surgeons.

BACKGROUND: Interprofessional collaboration between registered nurses and orthopaedic surgeons faces challenges on many levels. The literature offers theories on collaboration, but reality seems to be in conflict with theory, especially in somatic hospitals. Little empirical research on lived experience has been conducted in these settings.

METHOD: I conducted narrative interviews with five registered nurses who work on orthopaedic wards in two different hospitals in Norway. I analysed the data using a phenomenological hermeneutical method inspired by Ricoeur's theory of interpretation.

RESULTS: The registered nurses emphasised disparate expectations and priorities when they described collaboration. They felt their performance was hindered and had difficulty in being assertive about their own area of work. Collaboration was perceived from the perspective of relations with orthopaedic surgeons, which were perceived as difficult as indicated by the themes identified: disparate expectations and priorities; feeling emotionally burdened; keeping a distance; accepting difficult relations; and being confident in difficult relations.

CONCLUSIONS: Registered nurses seem to focus on relations in work settings where chaos and unpredictability set the background for collaboration. They perceived relations through their focus on behaving responsibly. This highlights their resources and their ability to see and to meet others, as well as difficulties they experience in asserting the importance of their own professional sphere. Acknowledging strengths and weaknesses could help to strengthen nursing identity and make it more explicit.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Both resources and weaknesses are revealed that could be used by all healthcare workers to improve collaboration with colleagues, thereby enhancing patient care.

Full text links

We have located links that may give you full text access.
Can't access the paper?
Try logging in through your university/institutional subscription. For a smoother one-click institutional access experience, please use our mobile app.

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

Mobile app image

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

All material on this website is protected by copyright, Copyright © 1994-2024 by WebMD LLC.
This website also contains material copyrighted by 3rd parties.

By using this service, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.

Your Privacy Choices Toggle icon

You can now claim free CME credits for this literature searchClaim now

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app