Organizational Culture in Home Health Nursing Practice and Day to Day Care of Older South Asians

• Main Author: Francis, Jonquil
• Other Authors: Purkis, Mary Ellen
• Language: English; en
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: Home Health Nursing; Ethnography; Organizational Context
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1828/5635

The objective of this study is to describe and understand the organizational culture and context in Home Health Nursing (HHNsg) practice. Participants consisted of a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN), three Registered Nurses (RNs) and three Registered Nurse leaders. Using the methodology of ethnography, data collection methods included participant-observation, documenting fieldnotes, writing reflective memos, conducting individual interviews and examining organizational priorities. Home Health Nurses (HHNs) were observed and subsequently interviewed to illustrate routine practices and discourses that influence everyday HHNsg practice. Nurse leaders shared their perspectives of everyday contexts underpinning HHNsg practice, particularly professional claims of culturally-competent care. Geertz’s theoretical concepts of “thick descriptions and “texts” were applied to the analysis. My concluding discussion demonstrates how participants enacted cost-effective and efficient philosophies of organizing care despite claiming the importance of culturally-competent care with South Asian clients (India, Punjab). === Graduate