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Professional coping : what does it mean to graduate nurses as they care for dying patients

thesis
posted on 2023-05-26, 16:37 authored by Meyrick, Wendy
This phenomenological study describes the lived experiences of four registered nurses within the first two years of their nursing practice. The graduate year of each of the four nurses was spent in diverse areas of nursing practice and their stories describe their experiences of nursing a dying patient. The purpose of this study was to reveal the meaning that coping holds for these nurses while caring for dying people. The stories were shared through conversational interviews which were tape recorded to allow for subsequent analysis. The study is grounded in Heideggerian phenomenology and utilises the Gadamerian concepts of effective historical consciousness and fusion of horizons. The analysis of the research data revealed the essences of awakenings, engaging, self reflection and maturing. These essences form a progression in the development of these four graduate nurses from a phenomenological perspective as they care for the dying and their relatives. The phenomenological view of the person has been utilised to illustrate the connection between the essences extracted and the journey undertaken by these nurses. The four existentials of spatiality, corporeality, temporality and relationality have been identified as aligned to the essences, as it is through these existentials that human beings experience their life-world. The stories told by the participants provide insights into the world of graduate nurses from their perspective and reveal the realities of their journeys as they care for dying patients at the beginning of their nursing practice. Included in this thesis is a discussion about implications for nursing practice which includes University preparation of nurses, graduate nurse programs and preceptorship of graduate nurses by experienced nurses.

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Copyright 1997 the Author - The University is continuing to endeavour to trace the copyright owner(s) and in the meantime this item has been reproduced here in good faith. We would be pleased to hear from the copyright owner(s). Thesis (M.N.)--University of Tasmania, 1997. Includes bibliographical references

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