AUT LibraryAUT
View Item 
  •   Open Research
  • AUT Faculties
  • Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences
  • School of Clinical Sciences
  • View Item
  •   Open Research
  • AUT Faculties
  • Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences
  • School of Clinical Sciences
  • View Item
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

The Consequences of Using Advanced Physical Assessment Skills in Medical and Surgical Nursing: A Hermeneutic Pragmatic Study

Zambas, SI; Smythe, EA; Koziol-Mclain, J
Thumbnail
View/Open
Journal article (385.4Kb)
Permanent link
http://hdl.handle.net/10292/13596
Metadata
Show full metadata
Abstract
Aims and objectives: The aim of this study was to explore the consequences of the nurse’s use of advanced assessment skills on medical and surgical wards.

Background: Appropriate, accurate, and timely assessment by nurses is the cornerstone of maintaining patient saety in hospitals. The inclusion of ‘‘advanced’’ physical assessment skills such as auscultation, palpation, and percussion is thought to better prepare nurses for complex patient presentations within a wide range of clinical situations.

Design: This qualitative study used a hermeneutic pragmatic approach.

Method: Unstructured interviews were conducted with five experienced medical and surgical nurses to obtain 13 detailed narratives of assessment practice. Narratives were analyzed using Van Manen’s six-step approach to identify the consequences of the nurse’s use of advanced assessment skills.

Results: The consequences of using advanced assessment skills include looking for more, challenging interpretations, and perseverance. The use of advanced assessment skills directs what the nurse looks for, what she sees, interpretation of the findings, and her response. It is the interpretation of what is seen, heard, or felt within the full context of the patient situation, which is the advanced skill.

Conclusion: Advanced assessment skill is the means to an accurate interpretation of the clinical situation and contributes to appropriate diagnosis and medical management in complex patient situations.

Relevance to clinical practice: The nurse’s use of advanced assessment skills enables her to contribute to diagnostic reasoning within the acute medical and surgical setting.
Keywords
Diagnostic reasoning; Advanced skill; Habit; Hermeneutics; Interpretation; Physical assessment; Pragmatism
Date
2016
Source
International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being, 11(1), 32090.
Item Type
Journal Article
Publisher
Taylor and Francis
DOI
10.3402/qhw.v11.32090
Publisher's Version
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3402/qhw.v11.32090
Rights Statement
# 2016 S. I. Zambas et al. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), allowing third parties to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and to remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially, provided the original work is properly cited and states its license.

Contact Us
  • Admin

Hosted by Tuwhera, an initiative of the Auckland University of Technology Library

 

 

Browse

Open ResearchTitlesAuthorsDateSchool of Clinical SciencesTitlesAuthorsDate

Alternative metrics

 

Statistics

For this itemFor all Open Research

Share

 
Follow @AUT_SC

Contact Us
  • Admin

Hosted by Tuwhera, an initiative of the Auckland University of Technology Library