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The Meaning of Being a Perioperative Nurse
Author(s) -
Sigurđsson Hrafn Óli
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
aorn journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.222
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1878-0369
pISSN - 0001-2092
DOI - 10.1016/s0001-2092(06)61529-9
Subject(s) - perioperative nursing , meaning (existential) , perioperative , hermeneutics , action (physics) , nursing , psychology , epistemology , medicine , psychotherapist , surgery , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics
The purpose of this study is to describe the meaning of being a perioperative nurse within the contexts of the sociopolitical, economic, and cultural forces that influence perioperative nursing practice. A theory of communicative action provided the framework for this philosophical inquiry. The researcher conducted one‐time, in‐depth interviews with six expert perioperative nurses selected from three practice settings in the northeastern United States. These interviews resulted in the text that the researcher analyzed based on the principles of critical hermeneutics, and four constitutive patterns were identified. The meaning of being a perioperative nurse for these nurses was identified as a struggle to make sense of their existence in the OR. AORN J 74 (Aug 2001) 202–217.