Abstract
Dear Readers,
As a new member of the editorial team at the Nordic Journal of Nursing Research, this is my first editorial and I would like to take this opportunity to give you an overview of this issue. I am honoured to be a part of this journal’s editorial team, which consistently strives to publish high-quality articles representing the broad spectrum of nursing research. In this issue, we begin with a guest editorial 1 honouring the memory of Professor Emerita Sirkka-Liisa Ekman, a visionary in nursing and a respected researcher. Her work in geriatric and dementia care will leave a lasting legacy. Her research demonstrated the importance of providing care in the recipient’s native tongue. Fittingly, we present here a study relating to this area. 2 Hemberg and Sved focused on patients’ views and their findings show that receiving care in one’s mother tongue was central to patients’ sense of safety and feelings of recognition, contributing to their wellbeing.
We also present three midwifery-related studies – from Sweden, Norway, and Finland – highlighting the perspectives of partners of pregnant women, midwives, and mothers. The Swedish study examined how partners of pregnant women use social networks to prepare for childbirth and parenthood. 3 The findings indicate that by receiving social support from their networks, the partners gained insight into preparing for the birth and for life as a parent. Along with support from friends and family, support from other expectant parents is important; for example, through parental classes. Social support is vital during this life transition, and midwives can play a key role in supporting, strengthening, and extending partners’ social networks during pregnancy.
Continuity of midwifery care and meeting the midwife early on in pregnancy may also be important. Those components are highlighted in the Norwegian study, 4 which examined how midwives experience relational continuity of midwifery care and the challenges they encounter. The importance of continuity of care in providing individualized care built on a common relationship concludes the findings. However, to provide this, midwives require their management’s support. According to the midwives, management should ensure they have the resources to adequately deliver services, allowing them to practice their full competency. Many midwives described the health service as fragmented, whereby a midwife and a general practitioner both followed up on the patient, creating doubt as to who has ultimate responsibility. Such ambiguity could be detrimental to the quality of care.
Quality of care is also given focus in the Finnish study, 5 which reports on mothers’ perceptions of the quality of maternity services. Mothers participating in the study stated that the quality of service at Finnish hospital maternity units was good, and that they were pleased with the staff’s knowledge and skills. However, patient education, particularly breastfeeding counselling, was deemed insufficient. As the first national survey of postnatal mothers in Finland, this study could serve as the foundation for future research in a field where research has been limited.
Another study on this issue also relates to an under-researched field: the role of nurse practitioners in a Norwegian healthcare context. 6 Globally, nurse practitioners play an important role in meeting increased healthcare needs and making healthcare more efficient. However, in Norway, the role is relatively new. Holm Hansen et al. aimed to explore challenges in the current model of care and whether nurse practitioners can perform new tasks in an out-of-hours clinic. Perspectives from care providers and patients were studied. The findings showed the importance of clarifying new roles when implementing them. Overall, nurses were more receptive of the role than general practitioners. Patients were generally positive but did express some uncertainty about nurse practitioners doing work that they were accustomed to general practitioners performing.
Finally, we present a study about nurses’ experiences of ethical responsibility. 7 The nurses came from various settings, yet their experiences of feeling alone with worries and responsibilities were similar, and settings for ethical reflections were absent. They also highlighted the importance of focusing on ethical dilemmas related to interdisciplinary teamwork. With COVID-19, many of you may also feel that ethical issues are more important than ever to discuss from a nursing perspective. No doubt, many of you have faced new and unfamiliar ethical situations during the pandemic, and I think this topic warrants future study. Given how challenging 2020 has been for us all with COVID-19, it feels especially important to express our hopes and dreams for better days ahead in 2021. We are particularly looking forward to a continuous submission of high-quality papers and we, the editorial team, hope that the NJNR’s new author guidelines will support you in your endeavors of achieving this.