A Study on the Lived Experiences of Homecare Nurses

Suh, Moon Ja; Kim, So Sun; Shin, Kyung Rim; Kang, Hyun Sook; Kim, Keum Soon; Park, Ho Ran; Kim, Hae Sook

Abstract

THE NECESSITY AND PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: Recently the number of patients with chronic diseases and the aged patients is increasing steadily. Furthermore, due to the expansion of health insurance system, the number of patients hospitalized in the general hospital is increasing at a surprising speed. However, hospitals urge the early discharge of the patients for the efficiencies of hospital administration, and therefore, the number of patients who must be taken care of in their home is also increasing. Homecare nursing is one of the health care service for the patients at home who require continual attention and care, and now increasing attentions are given to it as one of the professional nursing fields. However, it was almost impossible to find a study on the actual experiences of the homecare nurses written by their own language in Korea, that it also posed a great difficulty in understanding their diverse experience. Considering these situation, this study will help understanding of them, and provide the fundamental data on their experiences for making policies to develop homecare nursing.
METHODS
OF RESEARCH: Phenomenological research method was employed to analyze the lived experiences of homecare nurses fundamentally. DATA COLLECTION: Data were collected from August 1998 to December 1998 from ten homecare nurses who worked for patients under the homecare nursing setting as model cases designated by Seoul Nurses Association and who agreed to the purpose of this study after listening to and understanding the explanation completely. The in-depth interview was carried at the time which was convenient both for the researcher and participants for one or two hours, and recovered with the approval participants. The first interview covered diverse and broad areas like the situation of homecare nursing, and their feelings and thoughts over it, and in the second and third interviews, more specific questions are asked. DATA ANALYSIS: For the phenomenological analysis, contents analysis was employed. The data collected from the participants were analyzed into the following procedures according to Van Manen 's phenomenological analysis. 1) Reserve the preconception of the researcher by restricting it inside parenthesis. 2) Make a thorough observation of the lived experiences by insight process. 3) Analyze the contents (Find out the repetitive factors) 4) Interpret the essence found. 5) State the meaning of the interpretation.
RESULTS
AND DISCUSSION: 1. Fear and expectation for the first visit. (unfamiliarity, awkwardness, anxiety, shivering) 2. Mingle with the family (feeling friendly with the family, becoming like a family member) 3. Being proud of her own know-how (learning the know-how, organizing alternatives, building up confidence) 4. Pity for the poor. (criticizing the current government, feeling ashamed, feeling anger) 5. Difficulty of constructing cooperative system with physicians (strenuousness, frustration) 6. Helplessness due to the lack of support system (difficulty to get supplies, annoyance, embarrassment by institutional restraints) 7. Anxiousness for heavy traffic and parking (annoyance, hastiness) 8. Ethical conflicts (pity for the patients and family, skepticism about lengthening life maintenance) 9. Burden for the possible accident (pressure, anxiety, conflict, physical exhaustion) 10. Establishment of identity as a professional (fulfillment, worth, joy) 11. Being distressed at other's ignorance