Nurses Beliefs, Attitudes, and Perception Related to Work in Inpatient Stroke Rehabilitation Unit, a qualitative Study

Objective: This Study aims to explore Nurses beliefs, attitudes and perception related to work in inpatient stroke rehabilitation Unit. Background: Role of the nurses in the rehabilitation process has increased dramatically for last two decades. Many attempts have been done to identify the role of the nurses in the Inpatient stroke rehabilitation units, they concluded that nurses are involved as an essential part of the rehabilitation process, however, their contribution to improving patient's outcomes is poorly understood and refined. Design: hermeneutic phenomenology, qualitative approach. Methods: The data were collected by using a semi-structured interview, using open-ended questions then the major themes Transcribed for thematic analysis. Results: Two Main categories were identified; the experience of nurses in Stroke rehabilitation units and the challenges in nursing contribution in stroke units, and the recommended strategies to enhance the role of the nurses in stroke rehab units. Conclusion/Relevance to clinical practice: The study provided an evidence that nurses believe in themselves as an effective team member in stroke rehabilitation, and they are enjoying while helping patients to recover to allow them to reintegrate and adapt to their new life situations. However, this study showed a lot of obstacles that minimize the contribution of nursing in stroke rehabilitation units. The future nursing rehab role should also be developed to meet the post-discharge needs and the emerging rehabilitation services and technologies, moreover, nurses have to clear and specify their specific bedside care and interventions. Nurses have to adopt new knowledge and competencies in collaboration with other disciplines such as occupational therapies, physical therapy, and speech therapy, to upgrade their assessment and intervention skills that enable the nurses to provide systematic and therapeutic feedback about the patient progress and the proper interventions that needed to reflects that on the functional abilities on discharge.