Role Ambiguity in Rehabilitation Settings: A Professional Concern for Nursing

This study investigated how nurses contribute to inpatient rehabilitation. Grounded theory informed the analysis of data collected during interviews with nurses and observation of their everyday practice in five inpatient rehabilitation units in regional New South Wales. Role ambiguity, uncertainty surrounding the role of nursing, was a contextual condition that influenced how nurses contributed to patient rehabilitation. Contributing to role ambiguity were limited formal preparation of nurses for rehabilitation, differing perceptions of the roles of registered and enrolled nurses and difficulty identifying a rehabilitation-specific role for registered nurses. Exploration of these factors indicates a way forward to ameliorating this professional nursing concern.