Guruge Sepali
Daphne Cockwell School of Nursing, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, ON, Canada M5B 2K3.
ISRN Nurs. 2012;2012:486273. doi: 10.5402/2012/486273. Epub 2012 Jul 16.
Intimate partner violence has short- and long-term physical and mental health consequences. As the largest healthcare workforce globally, nurses are well positioned to care for abused women. However, their role in this regard has not been researched in some countries. This paper is based on a qualitative study that explored how Sri Lankan nurses perceive their role in caring for women who have experienced partner violence. Interviews with 30 nurses who worked in diverse clinical and geographical settings in Sri Lanka revealed that nurses' role involved: identifying abuse, taking care of patients' physical needs, attending to their safety, providing support and advice, and making referrals. Barriers to providing care included lack of knowledge; heavy workload; language barriers; threats to personal safety; nurses' status within the healthcare hierarchy; and lack of communication and collaboration between various stakeholder groups within the healthcare system. Nurses also identified a lack of appropriate services and support within hospitals and in the community. The findings reveal an urgent need for the healthcare system to respond to nurses' educational and training needs and help them function autonomously within multidisciplinary teams when caring for abused women. The findings also point to a need to address institutional barriers including the lack of appropriate services for abused women.
亲密伴侣暴力会对身心健康产生短期和长期影响。作为全球最大的医疗工作队伍，护士在照顾受虐妇女方面具有得天独厚的条件。然而，在一些国家，护士在这方面的作用尚未得到研究。本文基于一项定性研究，探讨了斯里兰卡护士如何看待自己在照顾遭受伴侣暴力的妇女方面的作用。对在斯里兰卡不同临床和地理环境工作的30名护士进行的访谈显示，护士的作用包括：识别虐待行为、照顾患者的身体需求、关注其安全、提供支持和建议以及进行转诊。提供护理的障碍包括知识匮乏、工作量大、语言障碍、个人安全受到威胁、护士在医疗等级制度中的地位、以及医疗系统内各利益相关方群体之间缺乏沟通与协作。护士们还指出，医院和社区缺乏适当的服务和支持。研究结果表明，医疗系统迫切需要满足护士的教育和培训需求，并帮助她们在照顾受虐妇女时在多学科团队中自主发挥作用。研究结果还指出，需要消除制度障碍，包括为受虐妇女缺乏适当服务的问题。
