%0 Journal Article
%T Everyday practices at the medical ward: a 16-month ethnographic field study
%A Axel Wolf
%A Inger Ekman
%A Lisen Dellenborg
%J BMC Health Services Research
%D 2012
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1472-6963-12-184
%X Ethnographic fieldwork was conducted over a 16-month period (between 2009 and 2011) by two researchers working in parallel in a Swedish coronary care unit. Observations, informal talks and formal interviews took place with registered nurses, assistant nurses, physicians and patients in the coronary care unit. The formal interviews were conducted with six registered nurses (five female, one male) including the chief nurse manager, three assistant nurses (all female), two cardiologists and three patients (one female, two male).We identified the structures that either promoted or counteracted the various actions and relationships of patients and healthcare professionals. The care environment, with its minimalistic design, strong focus on routines and modest capacity for dialogue, restricted the choices available to both patients and healthcare professionals. This resulted in feelings of guilt, predominantly on the part of the registered nurses.The care environment restricted the choices available to both patients and healthcare professionals. This may result in increased moral stress among those in multi-professional teams who work in the grey area between biomedical and person-centred care.
%K Person-centered care
%K Moral stress
%K Interprofessional relationship
%K Professional-patient relations
%K Care environment
%K Care continuity.
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6963/12/184/abstract