Caring of Nurses at the Pediatric Outpatient Department: Ethnography of a Community Hospital

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe caring of nurses provided to children and their families at the pediatric outpatient department of a community hospital. An ethnographic approach was employed for data collection and analysis. The data were obtained by participant observation and interviews. Eleven female nurses and other medical professionals working at the pediatric outpatient department participated in the study. Children and their families were also important participants. Caring of nurses at the pediatric outpatient department in the community hospital was comprised the following; Identifying critical children and their families and transferring them to consultation rooms, providing the families with reliable information and giving them support and encouragement, empowering families to raise children, resolving differences between children and their families, and identifying families with prevalence of child abuse and trying to keep the relationship with them. The pediatric outpatient department in the community hospital was a chaotic place; children in various developmental stages and of varied physical levels visited the hospital daily with their families. Nurses were always nervous because the behavior of the children and their families was unpredictable. The nurses found it difficult to understand the children’s condition and take care of them because time was extremely limited at the department and they did not know the usual conditions of children. The nurses stated that they “put up the antenna” to identify the needs of children and their families and judge what type of help they needed, and provided them appropriate nursing care within limited time.