Abstract
Aim: Nursing work has historically been difficult to specify. This has led to difficulties in determining safe staffing requirements and adequately supporting safe patient care. The aim of this
qualitative interview study was to explore how nurses understand their work.
Design: Qualitative interview study, using the interpretive description methodology.
Methods: Twenty registered nurses and nursing students completed semi-structured interviews
about their work. The researcher drew on the interpretive description methodology to analyse
interview data and create a model that interprets participants’ experiences of their nursing work.
Results: Nurses understand their work by its role in the healthcare system, rather than by the tasks
or activities they complete. This understanding is significant because nurses adapt their work
constantly, and rigid definitions of working would not support safe adaptation. Nurses report
working across three broad roles: clinical work, which is patient-facing; managing work, which
sustains the care environment; and enabling work, which provides supports like research and
education that make nursing a profession.
Conclusions: Clinical, managing and enabling work have different aims, but all serve the purpose of
supporting safe patient care and sustaining healthcare systems. Adaptation is a constant feature of
each of these roles. This model may be useful for nurses in structuring and explaining their work and
informing nursing workforce policy.