Abstract
Purpose : The objective of this qualitative study was to clarify rewarding and positive aspects of comprehensive community care practices by clinic nurses.
Methods : Semi-structured interviews were conducted for six nurses who had been working for more than five years at community-based clinics in the surrounding areas of Tokyo. Responses were analyzed using the Modified Grounded Theory Approach proposed by Kinoshita. Concept diagrams were drawn from the themes.
Results : Nurses regarded the integrated care of individual patients, their family and community as meaningful and rewarding because they were able to provide truly holistic care. They were also satisfied with “value of individual experiences of nurses”, “frontier spirit of community nurses providing pathless integrated care”, “appropriate work-life balance”, “independent position in the clinic” and “community-based team approach including medicine, health and welfare”.
Conclusion : Nurses felt easier providing their psychosocial intervention in a community-based clinic as part of a medical system. Nurses obtained rewards by using their holistic care ability. Since nurses and family physicians have similar perspectives with respect to patient-centered care, some nurses felt conflicts with their physicians, because patient-centeredness is not the only strength of such nurses.
