In order to prepare for the coming twenty first Century and to meet changing societal dedmands and health needs, it is necessary to develop a new conceptual framework for curriculum the colleges of nursing. The specific objectives of this project were to; 1) address the problem areas of the existing curriculum which were identified in the first phase of this study; 2) develop a conceptual framework which will meet faculty, student and societal needs; and 3) identify the content of the curriculum. In order to accomplish the objectives, the curriculum committee held 30 weekly meetings during the period of October, 1992 and December, 1993, There also were two workshops with college of nursing faculty members. The Philosophy and objectives of education were revised on the basis of the essential concepts of nursing; human being, nursing, environment, and health. From these basic concepts, six essential components were identified for the conceptual framework. These were nuring process, communication, professional roles, client, and nursing. These six components are interrelated in the curriculum. The complex interrelationship among the six components were presented on horizontal and vertical axes. Concepts related to steady improvement were put on a vertical axis. For example, concepts of client, health, and nursing are included in all levels of nursing curriculum and students are expected to retain and accumulate more complex contents as they progress in curriculum. Concepts on the horizontal axis are nursing process, communication, and professional roles. These concepts are unique to nursing and are common to any level of curriculum. Students are expected to study these concepts through all levels of the curriculum. It is expected that the objectives of the college of nursing will be accomplished when the courses and content of the curriculum are based on this conceptual fremework.
THE NECESSITY AND PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: Recently the number of patients with chronic diseases and the aged patients is increasing steadily. Furthermore, due to the expansion of health insurance system, the number of patients hospitalized in the general hospital is increasing at a surprising speed. However, hospitals urge the early discharge of the patients for the efficiencies of hospital administration, and therefore, the number of patients who must be taken care of in their home is also increasing. Homecare nursing is one of the health care service for the patients at home who require continual attention and care, and now increasing attentions are given to it as one of the professional nursing fields. However, it was almost impossible to find a study on the actual experiences of the homecare nurses written by their own language in Korea, that it also posed a great difficulty in understanding their diverse experience. Considering these situation, this study will help understanding of them, and provide the fundamental data on their experiences for making policies to develop homecare nursing.
METHODS
OF RESEARCH: Phenomenological research method was employed to analyze the lived experiences of homecare nurses fundamentally.
DATA COLLECTION: Data were collected from August 1998 to December 1998 from ten homecare nurses who worked for patients under the homecare nursing setting as model cases designated by Seoul Nurses Association and who agreed to the purpose of this study after listening to and understanding the explanation completely. The in-depth interview was carried at the time which was convenient both for the researcher and participants for one or two hours, and recovered with the approval participants. The first interview covered diverse and broad areas like the situation of homecare nursing, and their feelings and thoughts over it, and in the second and third interviews, more specific questions are asked.
DATA ANALYSIS: For the phenomenological analysis, contents analysis was employed. The data collected from the participants were analyzed into the following procedures according to Van Manen 's phenomenological analysis.
1) Reserve the preconception of the researcher by restricting it inside parenthesis.
2) Make a thorough observation of the lived experiences by insight process.
3) Analyze the contents (Find out the repetitive factors)
4) Interpret the essence found.
5) State the meaning of the interpretation.
RESULTS
AND DISCUSSION:
1. Fear and expectation for the first visit. (unfamiliarity, awkwardness, anxiety, shivering)
2. Mingle with the family (feeling friendly with the family, becoming like a family member)
3. Being proud of her own know-how (learning the know-how, organizing alternatives, building up
confidence)
4. Pity for the poor. (criticizing the current government, feeling ashamed, feeling anger)
5. Difficulty of constructing cooperative system with physicians (strenuousness, frustration)
6. Helplessness due to the lack of support system (difficulty to get supplies,
annoyance, embarrassment by institutional restraints)
7. Anxiousness for heavy traffic and parking (annoyance, hastiness)
8. Ethical conflicts (pity for the patients and family, skepticism about lengthening life maintenance)
9. Burden for the possible accident (pressure, anxiety, conflict, physical exhaustion)
10. Establishment of identity as a professional (fulfillment, worth, joy)
11. Being distressed at other's ignorance