原著

Original Article

田所, 良之

清水, 安子

正木, 治恵

Sayuri, SAKAI

タドコロ, ヨシユキ

Yoshiyuki, TADOKORO

シミズ, ヤスコ

Yasuko, SHIMIZU

マサキ, ハルエ

Harue, MASAKI

setting

care ward

the elderly

We studied the structure of assistance provided by nurses to elderly patients taking baths in recovery wards, and evaluated the effects of the culture and environment of recovery wards on caring to obtain implications for caring practice in such wards. Interventional observation and interviews were repeated by the field work process of microethnography at 2 facilities with recovery wards (X and Y wards), and the following 3 situations were analyzed and structuralized by the KJ method (assistance in taking a bath of elderly patient A by nurse C in X ward, patient A by nurse D in X ward, and patient B by nurse E in Y ward). Elderly patients in recovery wards were admitted “with readiness to be cared for" and expected “reserved and sympathetic nurses", but they could not achieve mutual understanding with nurses due to diverse disabilities. Care by nurses in recovery wards was affected by their view of elderly people and lack of communication with care professionals. Protecting the safety of elderly patients was their primary concern through restrictions in manpower, time, and space, and care for comfort and independence was jeopardized. Thoughts that care should be further improved in recovery wards were shared primarily among care-providers. Time and space allowing nurses to concentrate on elderly patients were necessary for bathing them in recovery wards. Continued sympathy for the feelings of elderly patients is considered important in the care of patients in recovery wards, even during contact of a few minutes in routine care.