Framväxten av sjuksköterskan som omvårdnadsexpert : Meningsskapande om vård under 1900-talet

Sammanfattning: This dissertion is focused on the concept of caring and its historical development. The aim is to examine the meaning making processes involved in shaping the caring practice in the twentieth century by pointing out and analysing conceptions of caring in texts. The study is based on analyses of union publications, textbooks and texts produced by Swedish governmental committees. Theoretically and methodologically this study is inspired by Norman Fairclough, his critical discourse analysis and his views on meaning, language, change and power relations. The analysis shows that two separate constructions of meaning have dominated the twentieth century. During the first half of the twentieth century, medical science was the chief influence on caring, the idea being that caring should be supplementary to medical practice. Both nurses and nurse's assistants have contributed to this concept of meaning. In the sixties, however, something happened. Old and predominant views on caring are being rejected and questioned by the nurses. The dominant medical discourse is being problemized. Ideas from discourses formally marginalized are being employed by nurses and the governmental committees. The importance of satisfying needs, not just medical ones, and a holistic view on caring are now being stressed. The patient, not the doctor, is thereby focused in the caring practice. The meaning of caring changes from a doing with the body inte a special attitude to the patient. "Omvårdnad" (nursing) is more and more the term around which meaning is evolving.