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Rationale: In the last decades, length of stay of in-hospital rehabilitation of patients with stroke has been significantly reduced. Health authorities expect relatives to be at disposal to convey the knowledge of everyday life and to provide emotional as well as practical support in relation to the patient. Caregivers require nurse assistance, support and to be seen as an essential partner in the care giving process. However, the nurses do not perceive that teaching of relatives is a task they should routinely undertake. This might indicate an ambiguity between the relatives' expectations and the actual contribution from nurses., Aim: This study describes nurses' experienced roles and functions addressing the relatives of patients with stroke during in-hospital rehabilitation., Methodological Design: A phenomenological hermeneutic approach influenced by Paul Ricoeur. In a secondary analysis focus group, interviews of 19 randomly selected nurses from three different hospital settings were interpreted in three levels. The study was conducted in accordance with the ethical guidelines for nursing research in the Nordic countries., Findings: The nurses expressed that they address the patient and the relatives and support the interaction between the patient and the relatives. Four themes occurred: the changed lives of relatives; shared life after stroke; noncooperating relatives; time for the relatives., Conclusion: Nurses experience their roles and functions addressing relatives after stroke as crucial, challenging and multifaceted. They acknowledged care needs of the relatives in their own right by addressing the relatives' vulnerability during in-hospital rehabilitation characterised by an existential threat to the physical as well as the shared life. The focus on the needs of relatives considering their expected future role was experienced as conflicting with restricting time frames and a healthcare system focusing on the individual patient., (© 2017 Nordic College of Caring Science.)

Background: The description of nursing roles and functions in rehabilitation of patients with stroke remains sparse., Aim: The aim of this study was to describe the experienced roles and functions of nurses during in-hospital rehabilitation of patients with stroke., Methods: Within a phenomenological hermeneutic approach, 19 nurses working with in-hospital rehabilitation of patients with stroke participated in three focus group interviews during 2013., Findings: The nurses' experiences were described in two themes: (a) the nurse's role and function in relation to the patient's needs 24/7 and (b) the nurse's role and function in the interdisciplinary team. Getting to know the patient as a person was essential to the nurses to care for the patient's basic needs; these must come first working with rehabilitation and always include the relatives. Recognition of the team members' individual skills with focus on the patient's needs must be the center of attention., Conclusion: An interdisciplinary rehabilitation program actively needs to include the patient by integrating the patient's perspective in the goals as well as in daily rehabilitation. In the team, nurses had the role of coordinator and the patient's voice.

Stroke is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the world. In the United States, it was estimated that approximately 750,000 patients had a stroke annually. Denmark, with a population of 5.5 million, had about 12,500 cases of hospitalizations from stroke in 2009. Despite the patient's obvious need for complex nursing care and a common recognition of the nurse's central role in rehabilitation after a stroke, a description of their specific contributions appeared sparse. Therefore, a literature review was conducted using the matrix method. The purpose was to explore the nursing roles and functions identified in empirical research and to discern any possible evolution in the nursing roles and functions during a span of years. The rehabilitation literature related to inpatient rehabilitation after stroke during the period from 1997 to 2010 was reviewed. The total number of identified citations was 1,529. After screening for relevancy, 134 eligible articles remained. Of these, 30 articles were extracted into a table and formed the basis for the conclusion. We found that four nursing roles and functions described in 1997 still accommodated central aspects of the current nursing practice but also emerging changes reflecting a development in the nurses' responsibilities and contributions in conducting rehabilitation after a stroke. These changes seemed mainly to be shaped instigated by changes in the (1) patient role, (2) increasing interdisciplinary teamwork, and (3) focus on rehabilitation efforts conducted in the patient's environment.