The meaning of “work” for nurses in their forties

Abstract

This research aims to assist nurses in their forties who work with great vigor and enthusiasm in their dispatched work scenes. It aims to do so by using a process to define "nursing care" in collaboration with such nurses themselves. The method is to select 10 nurses in their forties with more than 20 years of experience from 3 hospitals in the Kanto region. The next step is to interview these nurses using a semi-constitutive questionnaire and then analyze the responses qualitatively and inductively. The result is divided into 15 categories.1. Gain the trust of the patient as an individual.2. Gain motivation by helping the patient.3. Remember episodes and experiences that changed existing beliefs.4. Develop a sudden awareness of the halfway mark of our lives.5. Comprehend our position by adapting to our age.6. Step back.7. Work without expectation.8. Recognize the doctor as a colleague.9. Have confidence in our skills and nursing practices.10. Aim to look after future generations with consideration.11. Continue working without a title, but with a small wish to acquire one.12. Complain about the chief and head nurse.13. Be concerned with a sensitive relationship with the head nurses.14. Experience frustration and discontentedness due to the lack of a proper bedside relationship with the patient.15. Understand that lack of communication is the root cause of all problems.These categories will be converged in to 3 core categories: "Recognizing the patient as an individual acts as a motivational factor," "Being aware of our own flexibility with regard to work," and "Even hardships and discontentedness are motivators rather than deterrents."