Abstract
In the muscular dystrophy ward, long-term care is provided to patients with motor dysfunction. In this ward, the nurses position the patients in a timely manner, almost without needing to interact with them about their preferred position. The objective of the present study is to descriptively explore how this nursing art is structured. We conducted participant observation on 3 nurses working in this ward and interviewed them individually.
The study revealed the following information. Positioning is a nursing art in which it is difficult to separate “doing” the act of positioning from “being aware of” feelings and intentions of the patient. Nurses interpret the feelings and intentions of patients by correlating what nurses perceived at that time and place with the patient's everyday behavior and previous communications. This correlation is established on the basis of verbal and pre-verbal layers, or in other words, from temporal layers, such as ； physically visible signs revealed by the patient's body, the projected mood, sense derived from touching the body, physical sensations like pain and comfort that the patient has been sharing with the nurse, and anticipated movements or feelings of patient guessed mainly from the appearance.
