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"I don't have any emotions": An ethnography of emotional labour and feeling rules in the emergency department
Kirk, Katherine
Kirk, Katherine
Abstract
AIMS: This study aims to apply Hochschild's theory of emotional labour to emergency care, and uncover the 'specialty-specific' feeling rules driving this labour. Despite the importance of positive nurse well-being, the emotional labour of nursing (a great influencer in wellbeing) remains neglected., DESIGN AND METHODS: Ethnography enabled immersion in the ED setting, gathering the lived experiences and narratives of the ED nursing team. We undertook first-hand observations at one major trauma centre ED and one district general ED including semi-structured interviews (18). A reflexive and interpretive approach towards thematic analysis was used., RESULTS: We unearthed and conceptualized four feeling rules born from this context and offer extensive insights into the emotional labour of emergency nurses., CONCLUSION: Understanding the emotional labour and feeling rules of various nursing specialties offers critical insight into the challenges facing staff - fundamental for nursing well-being and associated retention programs., IMPACT: What problem did the study address? What were the main findings? Where and on whom will the research have impact? Academically, this research expands our understanding - we know little of nurses' feeling rules and how specialties influence them. Clinically, (including service managers and policy makers) there are practical implications for nurse well-being. Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Journal of Advanced Nursing published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Date
2021
Type
Article
Subject
Emergency service, Emotions, Ethnography, Hospital
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Citation
Kirk, K., Cohen, L., Edgley, A. and Timmons, S. (2021) '"I don't have any emotions": An ethnography of emotional labour and feeling rules in the emergency department', Journal of advanced nursing, 77(4), pp. 1956-1967. doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jan.14765.
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John Wiley and Sons Ltd