2020 Volume 9 Pages 7-14
This study aimed to clarify the experience of care workers who support people with severe motor and intellectual disabilities（SMID）in need of long-term medical care at disability welfare service offices and thereby obtain insight into the role of the nurses who work alongside the care workers. We conducted semi-structured interviews with eight care workers who had at least one year’s experience of performing mucus aspirations. The experience of care workers was classified into six categories：no self-confidence to be involved in this procedure, irritation with oneself for failing to deal with necessary medical care, anxiety about things that may happen, a feeling of being helpful to patients, the need of support when in trouble, and the delight to know patients' feelings. The following roles of nurses who work together with care workers were also suggested：explaining individuality, urging others to be conscious of themselves as role model, sensitivity to the frustration of not being able to provide medical care, the repeated provision of training seminars, the improvement of emergency response manuals, the construction of a relationship in which it is easy to converse, and the need to make others understand the significance of care workers' roles.
