Acute care nursing team members' perceptions of roles: Their own and each other's

Aim: To examine registered nurses', licensed practical nurses' and health care aides' perceptions of their and each other's roles.

Background: Nursing team members' perceptions about their own and each other's roles affect how they understand their contributions to patient care and their work relationships and social status within health care organisations. There is a paucity of literature on how nursing team members perceive their roles and those of their colleagues.

Design: Secondary analysis of qualitative data using qualitative description. The parent study used grounded theory to examine nursing care for hospitalized older adults.

Method: Conventional content analysis of interview transcripts and field notes from the original study.

Results: All nursing team members reported satisfaction from providing direct care. Registered nurses were uniquely responsible for leadership. Scope-of-practice changes contributed to role confusion and tension among team members.

Conclusions: More research is needed to better understand how to support nursing teams learning about one another.

Implications for nursing management: Nurse managers could facilitate clarification about nursing roles and support effective role deployment.