Characteristics of Trained Physical Skills for Interacting with Infants: An Ethnographic Study Conducted at a Pediatric Ward

Abstract

This article aimed to report the characteristics of trained physical skills in nursing at pediatric wards. An ethnographic approach was used with long-term participant observation and interviews. The study was carried out over a period of one year and seven months.
Six characteristics of trained physical skills were identified: “they utilize somesthesia for mutual interaction”; “they are situated”; “they are timely”; “they are difficult to verbalize”; “skills are refined through practice”; and “skills have a centripetality.”
These skills are not merely procedures, but are a complete way of using one's body to work with children that can be instilled through practice and obtained on the job. Moreover, the following three items were found to constitute nursing skills:body movement and somesthesia, timing, and judgment. Together these factors bring about a change in the interaction between children and nurses.