About the project
The project’s overall purpose is to gain knowledge about how caring in nursing appears through literature on nursing and clinical documentation. Specifically, the project will investigate the concept of caring and explore nursing records expressed through free text and standardized nursing language (nursing terminology).
The concept of caring is rooted in a relational and collectivistic view of humanity. The foundation of nursing is caring; we are responsible for the people we meet. How the encounter between people is experienced is fundamental to whether life’s possibilities are narrowed or unfolded, according to the Norwegian philosopher Kari Martinsen.
At the same time, caring stands in a tension of conflict, as caring in nursing is hardly measurable and under pressure from modern health services factors as streamlining, standardization, technology and the economization of time and money resources.
Clinical documentation in nursing has changed radically from early free-text records to current electronic health records (EHR) with standardized terminology. Increased quality of nursing documentation as an essential consequence of the changes is considered positive, but there is limited knowledge about how caring in nursing is expressed or should be expressed in such an international, standardized language.
The project has a qualitative, exploratory, and interpretive approach. The first part of the project will be an Integrative review, aiming to summarize, interpret, and synthesize research findings on patients’ and nurses’ experiences of caring in nursing across clinical practices. Findings from this study will form the theoretical basis for the project’s other phases.
The empirical part of the project is based on an analysis of the nurses’ clinical records from two different periods. The data material is based on anonymized nursing records from 2006 - 2008, when the first generation EHR was introduced, and similar material from 2015- present.
Background
Master’s degree: Health science; Clinical research and professional development
Research groups
Health promotion and interaction in a life course perspective (HEALTHYLife)
Existential perspectives in reserach and practice (EXIST)