Exploring the Experience of Nurses on Nursing Process Implementation in Northwest Ethiopia: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Background: The nursing process is a set of actions that help nurses to solve the nursing problems identified for a particular patient. Besides, it is possible to say it is an instrument for nurses in their daily activities, and at the same time, it requires the knowledge, skills, and attitude of its nurses. However, to the knowledge of the research team, there is no study exploring nurses experience on nursing process implementation in the study area. The study aimed to explore the nursing process implementation among nurses in selected referral hospitals of the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Ida Jean Orlando’s Theory of the nursing process guided the study. Methods: The study employed a descriptive explorative qualitative research design. After obtaining permission from respective referral hospitals and informed written consent from nurses, a semi-structured in-depth interview with sixteen nurses were carried out to gather data. NVivo 10 software was used for analysis, and the findings were thematised under different headings. Results: Three main themes emerged from the data: 1) care delivery approach, 2) challenges in the nursing process implementation, and 3) nurses’ preparation during training for implementing the nursing process. Conclusion: The findings showed different degrees of nursing process implementation with a huge gap in the quality. Inadequate knowledge, attitude towards the nursing process, and skills were considered a major area of concern. The study recommends the need for coordinated efforts of all stakeholders for improving the implementation of the nursing process, as identified by this study. Keywords: nursing process, nursing process theory, implementation, care plan, documentation