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Staff perspectives on the role of the nurse in rehabilitation wards for elderly people
Author(s) -
WATERS KAREN R.,
LUKER KAREN A.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
journal of clinical nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.94
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1365-2702
pISSN - 0962-1067
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2702.1996.tb00235.x
Subject(s) - rehabilitation , nursing , teamwork , work (physics) , multidisciplinary approach , medicine , interview , psychology , physical therapy , mechanical engineering , social science , engineering , sociology , political science , law
Summary• The increasing demand for cost‐effective and efficient health care may create a demand for more demonstrably effective hospital‐based rehabilitation services, with the explicit goal of enabling patients to return home after short admissions; thus rehabilitation is centre stage. • This paper reports the findings from a study of the rehabilitation of elderly people in hospital; in particular it focuses on an aspect of the process of care: namely staff perceptions of rehabilitation work, with particular emphasis on the role of the nurse. • A conversational style of interviewing was used with 56 staff respondents from two rehabilitation wards for elderly people. • Findings suggest that therapists are often seen as experts, and nursing is viewed as separate from rehabilitation, and hence nurses are an under‐utilized resource in this field. • It is suggested that there is a need to examine further the reality of multidisciplinary teamwork in rehabilitation, particularly with respect to maximizing the potential contribution of nurses, with the end goal of improving patient outcomes.