An investigation into the scope of practice of a registered critical care nurse in a private hospital

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The critical care nurse works in an environment where patient need oftenshifts the parameters within which she or he practices. It is expected of askilled critical care nurse to be able to make independent decisions and takeaction regarding patient care based on her or his knowledge and skills withoutdiscounting the parameters of her or his scope of practice. Practiceexperience has indicated that the critical care nurse is often uncertain aboutwhether her or his clinical activities are protected by the regulations providedby the Nursing Council. This is more specifically true in the private hospitalindustry where medical advice or assistance is not always easily available.This situation led to the following research question:Do the available professional and legal guidelines provide an appropriatefoundation to guide the practice of the registered critical care nurse in theprivate hospital sector critical care environment?A non-experimental descriptive study with a qualitative orientation wasconducted in 19 private hospitals in the Western Cape. Through nonprobability,random sampling, 71 registered critical care nurses were includedin the study. A questionnaire was designed and validated to collect the data.Quantitative data was analysed through Excel® while qualitative data wasanalysed thematically.It was found that the legal and professional guidelines in place at present doprovide a foundation for the clinical activities of critical care nursing in theprivate hospital sector. It is suggested that it is rather the critical care nurses'interpretation of the Scope of Practice (No.R.2598 of 30/11/1984 as amended)that limits their practice as opposed to the wording of the regulations.It is recommended that critical care nurses must determine nursing careparameters based on patient need, using the regulations as a foundation forcritical, analytical and reflective practice rather than as a set of rules to befollowed.Key words: Scope of practice, critical care practice, ICU nursing care, privatehospital nursing practice.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University