| In 2007, almost 4 in 10 (38.3%) adults in the United States used a Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) therapy during the previous 12 months, spending ;This qualitative case study of 20 Minnesota registered nurses reveals how personal use of TCM affects a nurse's professional identity. The data provides the basis for several new conclusions. First, socialization by nursing sub-specialty practice areas determines how nurses who have tried TCM practice nursing. Socialization to, and practice in, nursing sub-specialties occurs in the manner of Goffman's (1961) concept of "total institutions." However, nursing faculty members report "exemption" from "total sub-specialty" socialization norms when preparing future nurses.;Second, nurses also shift their "moral careers," incorporating their personal experience and knowledge of TCM into their nursing "toolbox" and use it when asked advice about illnesses. Nurses "read cues" to decide if and how they will incorporate TCM into their medical treatment discussions during the illness assessment and triage process. Nurses reveal that while they continue to begin their nursing assessments from a western medical standpoint they incorporate TCM where they have learned it may be appropriate.;Finally, depending on accepted "total sub-specialty" practice norms, nurses may present themselves and their TCM beliefs differently in their official role with patients on the frontstage than they might choose to do, unofficially, on the backstage with family and friends. Most nurses are not concerned with how they "present" their use of TCM to the peers if TCM relieves the medical issue.;The significance from this study's finding is that nurses try TCM and share that information with others who then try TCM. This circular path of "learning and trying" leads to the conclusion that nurses' use of TCM creates inroads for integration of TCM into western medicine. |
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