Welcome intrusions: an interpretive phenomenological study of TB nurses' relational work.

Background: Nurse-client relationships are valued in descriptions of public health practice and require consideration as work involving knowledge, skill, and personal engagement. Even so, in public health, they are largely taken-for-granted, particularly in the area of tuberculosis (TB). Instead, TB nursing is often structured by a population focus, which at times challenges individually focused relationship ideals.

Purpose And Design: This paper describes an interpretive phenomenological study which was undertaken to understand the nature of TB nurses' relational work.

Methods: Data were collected over an eight month period through observations of usual nurse-client visits and semi-structured interviews.

Setting And Participants: The study took place in the TB program of a public health department of a large multicultural Canadian city with nine nurses and 24 clients.

Results: The phrase 'welcome intrusions' represents the nature of relational work and along with three key themes, 'getting through the door', 'doing TB but more than that', and 'beyond a professional', speaks to the central tension in this relational work: balancing its dual surveillance-care focus.

Conclusions: Together these themes emphasize the importance of nurses' skill of involvement in two key domains of TB nursing practice: providing comfort and being watchful.