An interpretive phenomenological investigation of pediatric burn intensive care nurses' practices that facilitate the healing of injured patients

This interpretive study examined the everyday lived experiences of 16 pediatric burn intensive care unit (BICU) nurses for the purpose of uncovering and articulating practices that help critically injured children to heal. The following questions guided the study: “What is the nature of clinical practices that pediatric BICU nurses engage in to facilitate the healing of injured children?” and “What are the common meanings of healing that can be articulated from the lived experiences of BICU nurses who care for injured children?”; This study posited that the nature of healing could be best understood from an inside-out perspective of nurses caring for critically burned children. Data was obtained from two sources. First, multiple semistructured interviews were conducted privately with each nurse to obtain narratives of clinical situations that represented the nurse's understanding of and practices that facilitated healing. Second, multiple observations of each pediatric BICU nurse engaged in clinical activities were carried out to gain insight into his/her practices. Interpretation of data involved three strategies: identification of paradigm cases, determination of exemplar cases, and thematic analysis.; Analysis of the data resulted in the identification of four themes: healing the child within; healing the child through caring for the family; participating in God's healing; and, unseen healing connections. While the themes and supporting practices are presented separately, they are interdependent and interrelated. The nurses' practices revealed the implicit wholeness of their being in the world: they sought ways to comfort others and self, establish meaningful relationships with self, others, and God, and help others and self experience higher levels of well-being. Implications for nursing education, practices, and research are discussed.