Abstract
The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe nurses' uncertainty on pregnant women facing threatened abortion and explore how nurses had dealt with them. Participants were 20 nurses who have worked in the obstetrics unit more than 3 years. Data from semistructured interviews were analyzed through sorting into categories by themes. The nurses experienced “uncertainty” associated with whole image of a pregnant woman facing threatened abortion, relationships with pregnant woman and diagnosis and treatment of threatened abortion. Though the nurses had uncertainty, they dealt with pregnant women facing threatened abortion using “nurses' resources” including skills, clinical judgements, clinical experiences and/or rules.“Deal with pregnant women” consists of ‘leading pregnant woman to be sure’, ‘being with pregnant women’, ‘dealing with pregnant women ambiguously’, and ‘dealing with pregnant women superficially’. These findings suggest as follows: 1) nurses' resources is concerned in flexible dealing with pregnant women and 2) it is important that nurses provide care which leads pregnant women to find significance in her experience in spite of ending pregnancy.
