Deconstructing the language of psychiatric hospitalization.

The purpose of this study was to deconstruct the language of psychiatric nurses' documentation and charting. Employing concepts developed by post-modern theorists, everyday professional activities can be examined in unique ways that uncover how they conceal or skew rather than reveal and illumine patient conditions. The study design and sample was exploratory; content analysis with first and second level analyses. Nine major categories of charting entry were found. Deconstruction of the language and discourse of nursing through a Foucaultian lens goes beyond what is manifest to what is not said. Professional assumptions about patients and the social construction of patients and patient problems are exposed.