Nurses as Guests or Professionals in Home Health Care

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore and interpret the diverse subject of positions, or roles, that nurses construct when caring for patients in their own home. Ten interviews were analysed and interpreted using discourse analysis. The findings show that these nurses working in home care constructed two positions: `guest' and `professional'. They had to make a choice between these positions because it was impossible to be both at the same time. An ethics of care and an ethics of justice were present in these positions, both of which create diverse ethical appeals, that is, implicit demands to perform according to a guest or to a professional norm.