Professional nursing care in Tanzania: a descriptive study of nursing care in Ilembula Lutheran Hospital in Tanzania.

The purpose of this ethnonursing study is to find new knowledge of the professional nursing care practised in a Bantu cultural context in Tanzania. The main questions are: How do Bantu nurses describe nursing? What components are there in professional nursing care in Ilembula Lutheran Hospital? The data were collected through participant observation, interviews and personal working diaries in Ilembula Lutheran Hospital. Six Tanzanian nurses were interviewed. The findings indicated that nursing was based on formal training on one hand, and on a natural mother-child relationship on the other hand. The idea of respect towards life, which is central to the Bantu philosophy of life, guided nursing care. In professional nursing care there emerged curing and caring components. Protection, encouragement and comfort were distinguished as the main constructs of caring.