Room for caring: patients' experiences of well-being, relief and hope during serious illness
Sammanfattning
Aim: This study explores how seriously ill hospitalized patients' experience and assign meaning to
their patient room.
Background: Modern hospitals and the rational underlying care and treatment of today have their
emphasis on diagnosis, cure and treatment. Consequently, aesthetics in the patient rooms such as a
view of nature or natural light entering the room are often neglected in caring for these patients.
Method: A phenomenological-hermeneutic study design was applied and data was collected through
multiple qualitative interviews combined with observations at a teaching hospital in Denmark. Twelve
patients participated.
Findings: The findings show that a view of nature and natural light in the form of sunlight or daylight
in the patient room play a significant role in creating positive and supportive thoughts and emotions
in the seriously ill patients. Three themes were identified: (i) Experiencing inner peace and an escape
from negative thoughts, (ii) Experiencing a positive mood and hope and (iii) Experiencing good
memories.
Conclusion: Our findings highlight aesthetic sensory impressions in the form of nature sights and
natural light in the patient room as a powerful source of well-being, relief and hope for the patients
during serious illness. Therefore, these sensory impressions should be thought of as holding
palliative potential and should be included as a part of caring for the seriously ill patients.