Acute Hospital Nurses’ Recognition of and Approaches to Functional Recovery/ Independent Excretion Care for Elderly Patients with Pneumonia

The purpose of this study was to clarify the implementation contents of independent excretion care of elderly pneumonia patients, including nurses' thoughts, by acute care hospital nurses. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 nurses working on a respiratory ward, and the obtained data were qualitatively and inductively analyzed. The acute hospital nurses approached to independent excretion care included: performing such care through multi-professional liaison and learning from senior nurses. On the other hand, they faced dilemmas when performing excretion care that did not meet patients’ requirements due to insufficient manpower and the prioritization of treatment in the clinical setting. To perform independent excretion care for elderly patients with pneumonia, the following nursing support approaches may be necessary: continuously providing education focusing on excretion care, and tool development for independent excretion care. acute care hospital, independent excretion care, elderly patient with pneumonia, functional recovery care ykuroka@juntendo.ac.jp(Yoshiko ENOMOTO; Japan) Asian J Human Services, 2018, 14:24-37. © 2018 Asian Society of Human Services Received