Clinical Commentary XVI

[This section is a regular feature. A short piece of clinical material from a session is presented with a brief introduction about the case. The material has been sent ‘blind’ to three people who represent different approachs to the work. They have been asked to comment on the material and the approach. The intention is to put these commentaries on the same material side by side for comparison of the different approaches and to facilitate the understanding of alternative terminologies and modes of practice - Ed]

This is a report of one session of a support group for nurses working on a ward in a large general hospital in the north of England. The group has been meeting weekly for two years, and is attended by the qualified staff nurses and sometimes by other professional staff who work with the ward's patients. It began after one of the nurses approached the Staff Counselling Service for help in facilitating a group to alleviate tension in the staff team. I have been facilitating the group since its inception, and I am a female Staff Counsellor at the same hospital.

The group is held in a small staff room on the ward while the student nurses look after the patients. Usually all the staff nurses on duty at the time attend the group, which is held at a time when the two day-time shifts overlap. When fully staffed the ward employs eleven staff nurses, but due to the shift system each nurse can only attend the group irregularly, and its composition is different each week. There are usually 4-6 group members at each meeting which lasts for fifty minutes.

The ward is a small specialist unit where the emphasis is on rehabilitation but it also takes some general medical or surgical patients. It is well regarded in the hospital and is popular with student nurses. At the time of the group session reported here, the ward had been very short staffed for some months due to a spate of departures of staff nurses. Six had left in the space of three months,