Nurses’ reflections on good nurse traits: Implications for improving care quality
Background:Good nurses show concern for patients by caring for them effectively and attentively to foster their well-being. However, nurses cannot be taught didactically to be “good” or any trait that characterizes a good nurse. Nurses’ self-awareness of their role traits warrants further study.Obje...
| Authors: | ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sage
2015
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| In: |
Nursing ethics
Year: 2015, Volume: 22, Issue: 7, Pages: 790-802 |
| Further subjects: | B
good nurse traits
B quality nursing care B Card play B Reflection B role–trait discrepancy B Nurse |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Background:Good nurses show concern for patients by caring for them effectively and attentively to foster their well-being. However, nurses cannot be taught didactically to be “good” or any trait that characterizes a good nurse. Nurses’ self-awareness of their role traits warrants further study.Objectives:This study aimed (a) to develop a strategy to elicit nurses’ self-exploration of the importance of good nurse traits and (b) to explore any discrepancies between such role traits perceived by nurses as ideally and actually important.Research design:For this mixed-method study, we used good nurse trait card play to trigger nurses’ reflections based on clinical practice. Nurse participants appraised the ideal and actual importance of each trait using a Q-sort grid. The gap between the perceived ideal and actual importance of each trait was examined quantitatively, while trait-related clinical experiences were analyzed qualitatively.Participants and research context:Participants were 35 in-service nurses (mean age = 31.6 years (range = 23–49 years); 10.1 years of nursing experience (range = 1.5–20 years)) recruited from a teaching hospital in Taiwan.Ethical considerations:The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the study site.Findings:Good nurse trait card play with a Q-sort grid served as an icebreaker to help nurse participants talk about their experiences as embodied in good quality nursing care. Nurses’ perceived role–trait discrepancies were divided into three categories: over-performed, least discrepant, and under-performed. The top over-performed trait was “obedience.”Discussion:Patients’ most valued traits (“patient,” “responsible,” “cautious,” and “considerate”) were perceived by participants as ideally important but were under-performed, perhaps due to experienced nurses’ loss of idealism.Conclusion:Good nurse trait card play with Q-sort grid elicited nurses’ self-dialogue and revealed evidence of the incongruity between nurses’ perceived ideal and actual importance of traits. The top over-performed trait, “obedience,” deserves more study. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-0989 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Nursing ethics
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/0969733014547973 |