Abstract
The encounter between registered nurses and persons in need of healthcare has been described as fundamental in nursing care. This encounter can take place face-to-face in physical meetings and through meetings via distance-spanning technology. A strong view expressed in the literature is that the face-to-face encounter is important and cannot entirely be replaced by remote encounters. The encounter has been studied in various healthcare contexts but there is a lack of studies with specific focus on the encounter in home-based nursing care. The aim of this study was to explore the encounter in home-based nursing care based on registered nurses’ experiences. Individual interviews were performed with 24 nurses working in home-based nursing care. The transcribed interviews were analyzed using thematic content analysis and six themes were identified: Follows special rules, Needs some doing, Provides unique information and understanding, Facilitates by being known, Brings energy and relieves anxiety, and Can reach a spirit of community. The encounter includes dimensions of being private, being personal and being professional. A good encounter contains dimensions of being personal and being professional and that there is a good balance between these. This is an encounter between two human beings, where the nurse faces the person with herself and the profession steadily and securely in the back. Being personal and professional at the same time could encourage nurses to focus on doing and being during the encounter in home-based nursing care.
Highlights
Home-based healthcare has increasingly become a more common model for the organization of healthcare [1,2,3] and this development is a challenge both for the person in need of healthcare and the healthcare professionals
The aim of the study was to explore the encounter in home-based nursing care based on registered nurses’ experiences
The three words the nurses chose to describe a good encounter were to large extent in congruence with the themes of the interviews
Summary
Home-based healthcare has increasingly become a more common model for the organization of healthcare [1,2,3] and this development is a challenge both for the person in need of healthcare and the healthcare professionals. When using distancespanning technology in home-based healthcare, persons in need of healthcare [6] and general practitioners [7] have expressed the importance of personal encounters (i.e. faceto-face encounters) and that the distance-spanning technology cannot replace the personal encounter. These findings are in line with many other studies and this emphasizes the need for an increased understanding of the encounter. The lifesustaining mode is when the provider acknowledges the personhood of the recipient by supporting, encouraging and reassuring, which affect well-being positively but does not increase the perceived sense of healing. The life-giving mode is when the provider of professional human service affirms the personhood of the recipient by connecting in a caring way, relieving vulnerability and making the recipient
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