Being altered by the unexpected: Understanding the perioperative patient's experience: A case study

Abstract

The present paper focuses on the process of understanding the patient in the context of perioperative caring and reports a story narrated by a perioperative nurse as well as her emerging understanding of the patient prior to surgery at an operating department. This qualitative case study had a dual purpose; firstly, to describe how the perioperative nurse's understanding of the patient emerged and, secondly, to establish how the researcher interpreted the situation. As a perioperative nurse and researcher, the author is both the narrator and interpreter. To date we have rarely discussed the fact that, in a perioperative context, the patient might feel ashamed of his/her body, even before arriving at the operating department. This new understanding emerged from the hermeneutical dialogue in the present study.

Operasjonssykepleierens vurdering av egen kompetanse i forhold til arbeidskrav

“…Likevel viser en studie (17) at operasjonssykepleierne ønsker å skape tillit og gi pasienten en opplevelse av trygghet og velvaere gjennom kommunikasjon og samhandling. Via samtale med pasienten innhentes også kunnskap om pasientens behov og helsetilstand, noe som innvirker på operasjonssykepleiers utøvelse relatert til individuelt tilpasset omsorg, komplikasjonsforebyggelse og sikkerhet (18,43,44).…”