Nurses’ knowledge related to care expressed in professional gestures

Introduction: Historically, it is accepted that women caregivers have always had care-giving roles. Care is expressed in various ways in professional acts.
Background: A context where nursing activity is more centered on technical and cure-related acts raises questions about the role of care-related professional knowledge in nursing.
Objective: To present the results of a study looking at the identification of care-related professional acts in the activity of nurses in care-providing situations and their links to nursing knowledge.
Method: The study was conducted in the context of clinical activity using simple self-confrontation and lookalike instruction methods. Data were collected from independent nurses through recordings and note-taking and then analyzed to categorize them using the frames of reference of lexical analysis, enunciative topics and the typology of nursing knowledge.
Results: Four types of care-related professional acts were identified: acts of atmosphere, acts of solicitude, acts of evaluation, and acts of regulation. The results made it possible to design a tool for analyzing these care-related professional acts.
Discussion: Care-related professional acts exist and can be identified. Analysis of the results confirms that experience transforms knowledge of various kinds into practical knowledge.
Conclusion: The confrontation between professional practice and the various types of knowledge acquired enables the construction of professional knowledge.