Nursing Rituals

Abstract

Scholars see rituals as part of the fabric of human existence. Rituals serve to express symbolic meanings important to groups of people functioning within a culture or subculture. Words, actions, objects, gestures and relationships are important to ritual performance (Bosk, 1980; Douglas, 1966; Fox, 1979; Malinowski, 1954; McCreery, 1979; Tambia, 1968; Turner, 1969; VanGennep, 1960). Turner (1969) defined rituals as dramas of social events which emphasize the importance of the event they symbolize or represent; rituals are standardized, repetitive dramatizations of social crises, functioning to minimize the effects of crisis. Malinowski (1954) also viewed rituals as being associated with crises - among these, illness, birth, marriage, death and socialization to new roles. Seldom have nursing practices and procedures been studied for ritual content. Nurses who have described and criticized rituals within the context of professional nursing see rituals as valueless and often condemn them. Huey (1986) considered some nursing rituals to be cherished beliefs in need of abandonment She called on nurses to save time and money and to expose and replace unnecessary practices with more scientific actions. Huttmann (1985) equated nursing rituals with time-honored, time wasting practices. According to Huttmann, nurses who use these routines are on "automatic pilot". Both Huey and Huttmann consider rituals to be obsessive, repetitive, traditional tasks, without meaning.