Journal of PeriAnesthesia Nursing • Henriette Simone Petersen, MSN, CRNA; Mette Juel Rothmann, PhD, MHSc, RN; Hanne Irene Jensen, PhD, MHSc, CCN • December 2024
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to understand certified registered nurse anesthetists’ (CRNAs) experiences of nursing in anesthesia care.
Design
An explorative qualitative study was conducted with inspiration from Ricoeur’s hermeneutic phenomenological theory of interpretation.
Methods
Three focus group interviews were carried out with participants representing 5 anesthesiology departments from 3 hospitals in Denmark (a total of 14 participants). The participants were all CRNAs. The transcribed interviews were examined as one coherent text using a Ricoeur-inspired approach, in which the analysis was conducted on three levels: naive reading, structural analysis, and critical interpretation.
Findings
The structural analysis identified three themes relevant to the CRNAs’ experiences of nursing: (1) the relationship with the patient, in which caring and professionalism are equally important; (2) differences between professions when sitting in the operating room; and (3) conflicts between production and caring. The study showed that CRNAs are aware of their professional identities as nurses and view anesthesia nursing as an integration of technical tasks and caring, in which the relationship with the patient and serving as the patient’s representative are central. A major aspect of nursing is performed while the patient is anesthetized, and the CRNA attends to the patient’s basic needs. The study also found that CRNAs find it difficult to define nursing in anesthesia care because of the overlapping tasks and skills between CRNAs and anesthesiologists.
Conclusions
CRNAs are very aware of their professional identities as nurses. The professionalism involved in their relationships with patients is evident in the CRNAs’ representation of the patients themselves.
