Qualitative Study of Nursing Practice in Preoperative Outpatient Care With a Focus on Life After Discharge

Abstract

Objective: To clarify nursing practices with a focus on life after discharge in preoperative outpatient care.

Methods: Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with nurses providing preoperative outpatient care. The interview content was then analyzed using the Klaus Krippendorff’s method. The verbatim transcripts for each participant were carefully read. The narratives of nursing practices in preoperative outpatient care were extracted in the participants own words, written down to clarify the content, and then coded. The codes for all participants were categorized and subcategorized into common items while the similarities and differences in meaning were examined.

Results: Six nurses were included with a mean interview time of 43 min. Through content analysis, nursing practices in preoperative outpatient care with a view of life after discharge were represented by 235 codes, 53 subcategories, and 9 categories.

Conclusion: Support for physical readiness for safe perioperative management was provided in collaboration with other nurses and multidisciplinary staff. Additionally, nurses focused on understanding the patient’s thoughts, values, and living situation according to mental and social information, and provided support for decision-making and living with postoperative changes.