Differing Perspectives on Nurse Education between Nurses and Clinical Engineers in Dialysis Units

• Published in: JOURNAL OF THE JAPANESE ASSOCIATION OF RURAL MEDICINE Vol. 67; no. 4; p. 533
• Main Authors: MIZUNO, Shinobu, OKUMURA, Keiko, NAKANO, Michiko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Japanese
• Published: THE JAPANESE ASSOCIATION OF RURAL MEDICINE 2018
• ISSN: 0468-2513; 1349-7421
• DOI: 10.2185/jjrm.67.533

Both nurses and clinical engineers are involved in training nurses who are new to the dialysis unit. Topics of instruction and prioritization differ depending on the profession of the instructor, often confusing the nurses and baffling the instructors. This suggests that the two professions may have different perspectives, so we administered a questionnaire to nurses and clinical engineers to find out. We found major differences in the topics of instruction that each profession considered important. For most nurses, basic machine operation and puncture site / shunt observation were important, but very few clinical engineers agreed. These differing perspectives on education between professions were the cause of differences in opinion. The major differences in perspectives on nursing education between professions were in terms of educational topics considered important, prioritization of educational topics, and strategies for addressing nurses’ confusion. A team-based medical care approach with collaboration between different professions is a unique system in the dialysis unit. Going forward, different professionals must work to gradually find a middle ground despite their differing ways of thinking and perspectives. We hope to collaborate and further enhance nursing education so that dialysis teams can have in depth discussions applying their unique professional perspectives and providing high-quality team-based medical care.