The Disagreement of Discourse and Power Through the Experiences of Nursing for Caring of Long-term Hospitalized Patients

장기 입원환자 간호 갈등경험을 통해 본 담론 대립과 권력

Purpose: This critical ethnography was performed to explore the experiences of nurses who are working with patients in an industrial disaster hospital. During the research process, I focused on the experiences of conflict in caring patients. Methods: Data for the study came from 13 informants with their corresponding patients through interview and observation from March 2002 to February 2004. The data was examined line by line; then compared and contrasted based on a critical discourse analysis. Results: Nurses' conflicts came from discrepancies of the world views from that of the patients. Such conflicts arose because of various issues as follows: Worker as an individual vs patients, nurse as young women vs the medical profession, hospital as an extended home vs health care setting, and hospitalization as a means to enhance work capacity vs a means of treatment. Conclusion: We need more study on the development of adaptive strategy for the nurses to overcome conflicts during their nursing career. Developing a nurses' and patient role intervention program is needed.