Sykepleieres utfordringer med å undervise om legemiddelbehandling i psykiatrisk avdeling
Sammanfattning
Background: Nurses at a closed psychiatric ward were questioned about how they fulfilled their
responsibilities regarding educating patients with severe mental illnesses about medical drugs.
Objective: The objective was to describe the nurses’ experiences with their teaching responsibilities,
regarding treatment with medical drugs, and the challenges they had experienced in this role.
Methods: The study had a qualitative hermeneutical design and the data were collected through two
focus-group interviews, with five and seven nurses, respectively.
Results: The study revealed a random practice. The nurses experienced that the boundaries between
nurses’ and doctors’ roles was unclear, and were afraid to "step on the doctors’ turf". The teaching
was more often initiated by the patient, than it was the nurses’ own agenda. Insecurity in nurses’ own
competence regarding medical drugs, teaching methods and communication skills emerged as a
challenge.
Conclusion: There is a need for greater attention towards formalisation of inter-professional working
processes, with patients actively contributing. Training programmes, where patients’ own
experiences are integrated, should be developed. The nurses’ educational and communication skills,
as well as knowledge of drugs, must be improved.