Exploring the role of nurses in inpatient rehabilitation care teams: A scoping review

The cohort of people requiring in-hospital rehabilitation continues to age and experience more co-morbidities. How these changes impact the role of the rehabilitation nurse within rehabilitation teams is not clearly established. Describe how nurses work within rehabilitation teams in hospital-based rehabilitation units. Scoping review Four datasets, Medline, CINAHL, Web of Science and EMBASE were searched. Studies were selected if they focused on nurses' roles in rehabilitation teams and were conducted in adult inpatient settings. Data were extracted and analysed by two researchers. An inductive descriptive approach was used for the analysis. Themes were finalised in a consensus meeting with the team. Twenty-four papers from Europe, United Kingdom, Canada and Australasia were found. Two themes were derived from the data: 'Nursing work is essential but rendered invisible' and 'Fluctuating teams and patient goals are momentarily stabilised through formal structures and processes'. Nurses were found to be working with three models of care, clinical, personal and rehabilitation within a culture focused only on rehabilitation. Nurses predominantly used relationship-based ad hoc communication strategies with other team members. Relationship-based interprofessional communication momentarily stabilises nurses' rehabilitation practice. Reframing rehabilitation nursing, to acknowledge the multiple models of care and communication mechanisms that are used in interprofessional teams is required. Building the team's capacity to work collaboratively in the fluctuating environment of rehabilitation requires attention to how intersubjectivity can be developed. Tweetable abstract: Scoping the role of nurses in rehabilitation care teams