IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jocnur/v26y2017i11-12p1725-1736.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Healthcare‐professional patients’ conceptions of being ill and hospitalised – a phenomenographic study

Author

Listed:
  • Malin Prenkert
  • Eva Carlsson
  • Mia Svantesson
  • Agneta Anderzén‐Carlsson

Abstract

Aims and objectives To describe the variation of conceptions of being ill and hospitalised, from the perspective of healthcare‐professional patients. Background Previous literature focuses on either physicians’ or nurses’ experiences of being a patient, without aiming at determining a variation of ways of understanding that phenomena. Nor have we been able to identify any study reporting other healthcare professionals’ experiences. Design This study has an inductive descriptive design. Methods Qualitative interviews with healthcare professionals (n = 16), who had been hospitalised for at least two days. Phenomenographic data analysis was conducted. Results The feelings of security were based on knowledge, insight and trust, and acceptance of the healthcare system. Being exposed and totally dependent due to illness provoked feelings of vulnerability and insecurity. The patients used their knowledge to achieve participation in the care. The more severe they perceived their illness to be, the less they wanted to participate and the more they expressed a need for being allowed to surrender control. The patients’ ideal picture of care was sometimes disrupted, and based on their experience, they criticised care and made suggestions that could contribute to general care improvements. Conclusions Healthcare‐professional patients have various conceptions of being ill and hospitalised. Based on the general nature of the many needs expressed, we believe that the insights provided in this study can be transferred so as to also be valid for lay patients. Possibly, an overhaul of routines for discharge planning and follow‐up, and adopting a person‐centred approach to care, can resolve some of the identified shortcomings. Relevance to clinical practice The results can be used for the purpose of developing knowledge for healthcare professions and for educational purposes.

Suggested Citation

  • Malin Prenkert & Eva Carlsson & Mia Svantesson & Agneta Anderzén‐Carlsson, 2017. "Healthcare‐professional patients’ conceptions of being ill and hospitalised – a phenomenographic study," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(11-12), pages 1725-1736, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:jocnur:v:26:y:2017:i:11-12:p:1725-1736
    DOI: 10.1111/jocn.13604
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.13604
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jocn.13604?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:jocnur:v:26:y:2017:i:11-12:p:1725-1736. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1365-2702 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.