Related Experiment Videos
Visualism in community nursing: implications for telephone work with service users.
1School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting, University of Manchester, United Kingdom. kwilson@fs1.nu.man.ac.uk
Qualitative Health Research
|September 30, 2000
Summary
Visualism, a bias favoring sight, can affect how legitimate telephone nursing is perceived. Addressing this bias can improve both telephone and in-person patient communication and assessment.
Area of Science:
- Nursing
- Communication Studies
- Sociology of Professions
Background:
- Visualism, a cognitive bias favoring visual information, may influence perceptions of non-visual communication methods.
- Community nursing increasingly utilizes telephone work for patient assessment and care coordination.
- The perceived legitimacy of telephone nursing is crucial for its effective integration into practice.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the impact of visualism on the perceived legitimacy of telephone work in community nursing.
- To identify specific concerns community nurses have regarding telephone-based assessment and communication.
- To provide recommendations for improving telephone nursing practices.
Main Methods:
- An exploratory study employing guided interviews.
- Purposive sampling of 14 community nurses.
- Qualitative data analysis informed by literature on visualism, communication, and nursing.
Main Results:
- Nurses expressed mixed views on telephone work, highlighting both benefits and drawbacks.
- Key concerns included challenges in assessing patients, context, problems, and comprehension via telephone.
- Findings suggest visual bias may devalue telephone-based nursing interactions.
Conclusions:
- Awareness of visualism's influence is essential for understanding perceptions of telephone nursing.
- Addressing visual bias can enhance the quality of communication and assessment in nursing, regardless of modality.
- Strategies to mitigate visualism can improve the acceptance and effectiveness of telephone nursing.