Nurse-doctor interactions during critical care ward rounds

This paper describes the participation of critical care nurses in ward roun ds, and explores the power relations associated with the ways in which nurs es interact with doctors during this oral forum of communication. The study comprised a critical ethnographic study of six registered nurses working in a critical care unit. Data collection methods involved professional journalling, participant obse rvation, and individual and focus group interviews with the sis participati ng nurses. Findings demonstrated that doctors used nurses to supplement information an d provide extra detail about patient assessment during ward rounds. Nurses experienced enormous barriers to participating in decision-making activitie s during ward round discussions. By challenging the different points of view that doctors and nurses might h old about the ward round process, the opportunity exists for enhanced parti cipation by nurses.