Containing abjection in nursing: the end of shift handover as a site of containment

摘要

This theoretical paper has arisen out of a national study of the end of shift nursing handover. It draws upon and offers postmodern reformulation of the psychodynamic concepts of anxiety and defence as articulated by Menzies Lyth in her study of nursing work in the 1950s. It outlines Kristeva's concept of abjection and draws upon Bion's formulation of the concept of containing to offer an account of how, in the current context of hospital nursing, the handover can function to contain abjection.