Clinical Wisdom in Emergency Nursing : Identification and Analysis of the Elements of Emergency Nursing Practice

Abstract

To clarify wisdom in nursing in emergency nursing practice, semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven nurses engaged in tertiary emergency medical facilities. Narrative analysis was performed to clarify wisdom in nursing based on a classification of wisdom by Titchen et al., from epistemological and ontological perspectives. The themes of wisdom in nursing characterized by epistemological aspects included : [identifying abnormalities/sudden changes], [understanding the crises faced by patients], [becoming aware of the task of saving patients’ lives], and [detecting changes in patients’ pathological conditions] [grasp patients from the perspective of family members]. Wisdom in nursing characterized by ontological aspects addressed the following themes : [being the only person who can provide medical care immediately after a sudden change], [creating a starting point for collaborative work among medical professionals], [acting as a core person for team medicine], [providing a reliable basis for patient care], [becoming a reliable source of information], [supporting patients as a companion to overcome their current situation], and [maintaining the bond between a patient and his/her family]. Wisdom in nursing to manage sudden changes/emergencies also focused on patients’ and their families’ psychological and social backgrounds, in addition to saving the former’s lives, and it was used as a nurse-specific role in emergency teams.