Engelsk titel: Meeting cancer patients before they have been informed about the outcome of the operation
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Författare:
Austenå, Mona
;
Fagermoen, May Solveig
Email: Mona.Austena@ldh.no
Språk: Nor
Antal referenser: 19
Dokumenttyp:
Artikel
UI-nummer: 19100190
Sammanfattning
Background: Research reports the importance of information to cancer patients about poor prognosis after surgery. Few studies have focused on postoperative nurses' challenges to withhold the information, while ensuring the patients a safe and secure monitoring. Purpose: To develop knowledge about nurses’ experiences when taking care of cancer patients who are not informed about poor prognosis after surgery. Method: The study had an exploratory design with focus group interview as a method for the data collection. The participants were recruited from two postoperative wards at two hospitals. Thirteen nurses aged 31-59, with 1.5 to 34 years of experience with such situation participated in the study. Three focus group interviews were completed, and thematic content analysis of the interviews was performed. Results: Before the physician had informed the patients, the nurses were challenged to balance many tasks. They wanted to answer the patients’ questions about the outcome of the surgery but had to avoid disclosing the truth. At the same time, they should cope with the monitoring, control their own feelings, build confidence and help maintain hope for the patients. The nurses with long experience seemed to handle the situation better. All wanted more time for systematic processing of situations such as debriefing. Conclusion: The nurses wanted to be present with the patients to give them trust in the time before the physician informed the patients. But they also had to give some distance to the patients to avoid unconsciously mediating what they knew. When a firmer framework around the processing of the situations was offered, the nurses felt they received more recognition for the complexity and challenge in caring for the patients.