Nursing Practice in War Zones and Wisdom Acquired

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe nursing practice in war zones and skills nurses had acquired through their work. A descriptive design was used. The sample included 39 nurses who had worked in different areas of conflict around the world for two Norwegian humanitarian organizations. A questionnaire was designed to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. The results seem to indicate that the nurses were well prepared for this particular work. The nursing practice consisted of nursing victims of war and supervision / teaching of local nurses. The nurses had positive experiences from their work. The nurses acquired personal and professional skills from their work in war zones, but the results seem to indicate that their Norwegian employers just to a certain degree took advantage of these skills.