This participant was asked to elaborate on the abovedescribed
episode and said, “It is a trauma in itself to
have a life-threatening disease and an ostomy. If the patient,
on top of this, will have problems adhering the
plate and the ostomy bag because we haven’t done our
job properly…well, that just aggravates the situation. I
have worked with ostomy patients and I could see that
the ostomy was not okay” (23). In this episode, the CN
applied her experience-based knowledge for the benefit
of the patient. She expressed her understanding of the
patient as an ill and vulnerable human being.
There were also nurses who viewed patients as objects.
This was observed in a situation in which the SN did
not allow the CN to speak up for a patient: A 45-yearold
woman with cancer is undergoing surgery for a
pathological fracture. The CN notices that the surgeon is
uncertain about the instrumentation used to measure the
size of the prosthesis. The surgeon asks the SN for a prosthesis
of a certain size. The CN reacts by saying, “But
your measurement was larger than this” [implying that
the surgeon asked for the incorrect prosthesis]. The SN
reacts by saying to the CN, “Hey!” [implying that she was
interfering with something with which she was not supposed
to interfere] (17). The prosthesis was subsequently
discovered to be too large, and the patient required further
surgery. According to the field notes, the SN was struck
by passivity. Moreover, she prevented the CN from getting
involved in the situation. In this example, the approach
was characterized by a lack of interest in the patient as a
human being; the patient was instead seen as an object.