Children’s views of nursing and medical roles: implications for advanced nursing practice

McDonald, Heidi and Rushforth, Helen (2006) Children’s views of nursing and medical roles: implications for advanced nursing practice. Paediatric Nursing, 18 (5), 32-36.

Abstract

Aim: Changes in healthcare delivery make it increasingly likely that children accessing ambulatory care will receive their health assessment and management from nurses rather than junior doctors. As part of a larger study exploring the safety and efficacy of nurse-led pre-operative assessment (Rushforth et al 2006) this study aimed to discover children’s views of nursing and medical roles. Method: Data were collected from 63 children using drawing and writing activity sheets during preadmission events. Findings: Findings suggest that there is a clear demarcation in children’s minds between doctors and nurses. In addition to the gender differences, children saw ‘caring’ as a nursing role and ‘curing’ as a medical role. However, there has been some change since earlier studies with only three children noting that nurses ‘helped doctors’ or ‘did what doctors tell them’ and less than a quarter of the children drawing nurses with hats. Conclusion: As with all other patients, children should be fully informed of the status of the practitioner undertaking their care; understanding how they perceive the roles of doctors and nurses will support this information giving.

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