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An examination of nurses’ practical judgments about the cognitive function of hospitalized older people

University of British Columbia

Nurses’ understandings of older patients’ cognitive function are central to how they determine and enact nursing care of older people in hospital, however, it remains unclear how nurses develop these understandings. The nursing literature concerned with how nurses determine actions in practice has begun to shift from instrumental views of reasoning to recognition that judgments are based on complex knowledge and are embedded in the particular context of nurses’ work. This study aimed to make explicit the complex, situated practical judgments of nurses about the cognitive function of older people in hospitals. The conceptual foundation of the study was informed by an integration of Aristotle’s notion of phronesis and Foucault’s understanding of power. A focused ethnographic study was conducted on two units in an urban general hospital over one year. Data were collected from 21 nurse informants through observations and interviews, and an analysis of documents used in their practice. Data analysis was guided by an analytic framework reflective of the conceptual framework. The findings showed that practical judgments about the cognitive function of older patients in hospital were structured through social relations, and nurses worked within that structure toward a complex understanding of patients’ cognitive function that would enable them to improve the situation of patients. Furthermore, ensuring safety and physiological stability emerged as the goals of nursing care related to the cognitive function of older patients and provided direction for practical judgments, including what evidence was sought and how it was used in deliberations about action. This articulation of nurses’ practical judgments about the cognitive function of older patients in hospital is a foundation for further inquiry into the context of nursing practice, educating new nurses on the complexity of nursing judgments and examining policy related to the structures guiding acute care nursing.

Text

2015-10-24

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/55117

Nursing

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca/