Telenursing In Home Care Services: Experiences of Registered Nurses

Abstract

This paper reports on experiences of telenursing by registered nurses working in home care services with a focus on leg wounds and their treatment. In the daily work of care giving, distant treatment was provided through technology for two-party encounters between registered nurses and patients. Ten video recorded interviews were conducted with five nurses. Data were analysed with content analysis. The results show that in virtual encounters the nurses felt great satisfaction from having an image of the patient while simultaneously assessing the situation. According to the nurse the patients expressed a sense of security from having audio and video contact with the nurses. The nurses were interested in and utilised the digital camera for recording photos of the wounds. They used the web application to gather information for patients and their kin, and for training while delegating to colleagues, co-workers, and students. The future vision is that two-party encounters are an effective form of communication.