Abstract
This study was performed to elucidate the structure of nursing competencies. Certified Nurse in Emergency Nursing (CN) handling tertiary emergency care patients in Japan. Analysis using the grounded-theory approach revealed the following storyline.
The CN assessed transported patients in critical condition using "intuitive prediction of the patient's course based on obtained information". This assessment enabled "management of emergency situations using proactive preparations," and their "assessment of priorities based on evidence regarding urgency and severity" enabled them to proceed unimpeded in emergency support while "cooperating with doctors and rescue workers based on mutual understanding" yet free from undue distraction by the pressures of the emergency situations or the doctors' instructions. They also provided "assistance to family members in facing unexpected events" in parallel with their emergency support.
In recognizing that in emergency support "experience and knowledge enable a fast response," the CN strove to combine their experience and existing knowledge as a means of raising their level experience-based knowledge. In recognizing that they sometimes encounter "a workplace environment where lifesaving actions are required despite limitations on emergency support" and that it is not possible to specialize exclusively in emergency support, they strived to heighten the quality of their emergency nursing and emergency support methods through "confirmation of expertise by returning to generalist nursing roots", and it maintain nursing practice competency as CN.
