Nurses’ Experiences of Promoting Healthy Aging in the Municipality: A Qualitative Study
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Setting and Participants
2.2. Data Collection
2.3. Data Analysis
2.4. Ethical Considerations
3. Results
3.1. Older Adults Should Be Given the Possibility to Live as Individuals
They want some level of independence, to be able to decide what they want to do. Even if they can’t do everything they want. They want to maintain that independency. (#6)
I see the whole person. When I meet older people, and have to help them with something-you know, if they get any sort of injury-and I do the bandage and wound care, then I don’t just look at that, I ask the person: How are you today? You know, this conversation is very important. (#12)
Life quality for her is to enjoy candy. (#4)
I think it is important to not make people sicker than they are. To preserve everything they can do themselves. Not take over and do a lot of things for them. (#5)
Because they know how to live, they have lived long lives, explorative lives. They don’t want to stop because they are sick. So I think we have a really tough challenge, and we are going to be more challenged every year. (#1)
They have a big role. Because, for example, people who live here, their relatives or children can tell me much about them. For them it’s natural, but it helps me get closer to the patient. Because they can tell a lot about their earlier lives, for example, what they have been doing and what they like. Communication with their children is really important. (#9)
Relatives who don’t visit the old people so much, they are the most demanding. Some relatives visit every day, and they can be very demanding. But some come once a week and they are just laid back and don’t say that much. But then we have the people who have not seen their mother in three years, and then she is suddenly going to die, then they get upset: no, you have to save her, you have to give her everything. They can be a challenge. They are not in the same phase [as they would have been if they had visited their mother more often]. (#6)
3.2. Organization Matters
My organization has one administrative manager. And the other [the nurse aide] has another. And we have the same patients, the same older people. So, it’s difficult to work as a team, when I can do something but the others can’t. To work as a team, you have to do the same thing. (#7)
But I still think that the health care itself is too task oriented. They [the managers] don’t see the benefit of preventive, or holistic care. We don’t have the resources. They are always talking about the resources, but I think this is short-term thinking. If you see that there are things you can prevent, then you can save a lot of suffering and time and money for the society. But sometimes it’s just like talking to a brick wall. (#8)
And I have had different managers in the organization throughout my work life and not everybody has been good at that [seeing the benefits of preventive work]. Because some people just want to come and do their job. And that’s ok. We need those people who come and do their job. But we also need people who are thinking ahead, have ideas, want to try new things. For that to happen-because we need it to happen, because we cannot work in the same way-we need minds that are open to change. (#4)
Since I always stand a little bit on the outside. It’s not really… I have to rely on the nurse aides. They have to tell me what they feel about the patient, and I have to listen to them, to help me make the right decisions. (#3)
And it’s very frustrating from the nurse’s side, to know that your education-research tells you what you should do, the way you should do things, but the human resources are not actually in place, are not always enough to do that. (#11)
3.3. To Work Professionally and with Passion
When I see a difference in how a person feels, it gives me strength and inspires me to carry on with my job. (#9)
And for society too. It’s a good upward spiral. It influences the whole society, so society itself develops positively. And if we do a good job, then it would help the society. So maybe you can save money, for example, save money for the municipality or district. (#2)
And, of course, some sort of training is necessary, I think. So it’s good to have that as well, at least one week a year when you can study more, learn about new things. And that can be very creative and stimulating too. If you find out something new and want to try it out. I think that’s an important part of being a good nurse. (#3)
I read a lot of articles, for example. I keep myself very up to date, and I think that is very important. So you know all the new research and so on. Because if you know the new research, you become curious, you won’t accept the routine. So you can always make it better than it is. (#1)
You meet other people; you meet other nurses. You can hear about their patients, and every time you hear someone talking about the patients, you learn something. (#1)
So, I have some words here I think. Empathy, sensibility, thoughtfulness, compassion, you have to have a degree of humility when dealing with people. (#12)
And you have to know when to be tough, and when to be soft. Because some patients need a firm nurse. So you need to have that personality that you cannot be just nice all the time, you also have to be firm. (#1)
Medicine is what the doctor tells the nurses to do, it is not what you find is needed to be done. And the nurses don’t do that [what they find is needed] anymore. They just do what doctors tell them to do. They have no time to do anything else, I really think so. (#11)
4. Discussion
4.1. Methodological Considerations
4.2. Clinical Evidence
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Category | Sub-Category | Code Examples |
---|---|---|
Older adults should be given the possibility to live as individuals | Support older adults to live independently | To maintain independence To treat old people as individuals |
Perspectives on health and aging are changing among older adults | Changed views of health To feel needed | |
Relatives have a role in promoting healthy aging | Easier to involve family members Work with family is challenging | |
Organization matters | Teamwork is important but not easy | Common goals Two systems |
Change to a more promotive way of working requires an open mind | No time for proactive work Change of philosophy | |
Reach the older adults through other members of staff | Heavy administrative workload Rely on the nurse aides | |
To work professionally and with passion | Sense of valuable work | Positive feedback Like to work with old people |
Necessity of being updated | Gain new knowledge Communicate with others | |
Exercising one’s profession | Skills are important Open to complex situations |
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Wu, F.; Drevenhorn, E.; Carlsson, G. Nurses’ Experiences of Promoting Healthy Aging in the Municipality: A Qualitative Study. Healthcare 2020, 8, 131. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare8020131
Wu F, Drevenhorn E, Carlsson G. Nurses’ Experiences of Promoting Healthy Aging in the Municipality: A Qualitative Study. Healthcare. 2020; 8(2):131. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare8020131
Chicago/Turabian StyleWu, Fan, Eva Drevenhorn, and Gunilla Carlsson. 2020. "Nurses’ Experiences of Promoting Healthy Aging in the Municipality: A Qualitative Study" Healthcare 8, no. 2: 131. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare8020131