About the culture of in-home nursing

As nurses assume a multitude of roles in health care, public and professional perspectives of nursing vary and, consequently, both clients and providers, including nurses themselves, do not fully appreciate the nature of in-home nursing. In this study ethnographic methods were used to capture participants' perspectives of the actions, practices, values, and beliefs that collectively comprise the culture of nursing in the context of home nursing services in rural Australia. Findings reveal how nurses' and clients' experiences of in-home nursing differ from the textbook picture, and how interactions between nurses' practice approaches and care recipients' enactment of the client role create a cultural context affecting clients' health and well-being. Given similar findings in other countries, the insights gained merit consideration by all professionals concerned about refining home care service approaches in keeping with currently espoused valuing of client-centered, empowering care partnerships.