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Question How do nurses use patient comforting strategies to facilitate the insertion of a nasogastric tube in a trauma care setting?
Design
Qualitative ethology.
Setting
3 level 1 trauma centres.
Data source
The investigators videotaped 32 trauma cases during which there were 49 attempts to insert a nasogastric tube. Patients were 2–74 years of age and most were men (71%). Trauma team members who inserted the tube were nurses (55% of attempts), physicians (37%), or students (8%).
Methods
Data were analysed using content analysis, and detailed textual descriptions of behaviour patterns used to comfort patients were produced. Using an existing typology of comforting strategies, recurring behaviours were identified and categorised.
Main findings
Nurses selectively used comforting strategies that focused on the competing interests of successful tube insertion and minimisation of patient discomfort. Direct comforting strategies were the primary tools used to achieve patient comfort. Nurses began with an assessment …
Footnotes
Source of funding: National Institute of Nursing Research.
For correspondence: Dr J M Morse, International Institute for Qualitative Methodology, University of Alberta, 8303-112 Street, Edmonton, AB T6G 2K4, Canada. Fax +1 780 492 9040.