title: Experiences of the transplant nurses caring for renal transplant patients in an acuity-adaptable patient room.
abstract: This article describes transplant nurses' experiences in caring for renal transplant patients in the acuity-adaptable patient room using Husserl's descriptive phenomenology. The setting was a twice-redesignated magnet urban tertiary center in the Southwest United States with 14 acuity-adaptable patient rooms. Audiotaped interviews were analyzed using Colaizzi's method and a purposive sample of 10 transplant nurses. Three theme clusters emerged that described the essence of the transplant nurses' experiences in caring for renal transplant patients in the acuity-adaptable patient room: Patient and family comfort: "...I think their anxiety of just not knowing what's going on-that need is being met." Nurse empowerment: "...Her urine output was going down to the 40s and so I had to call the surgeon recommending that we maybe change the normal saline to half normal for replacement." Acuity-adaptable patient room future potential: "I wish that all patients had this kind of access." The nurses felt empowered in caring for renal transplant patients in the acuity-adaptable patient room thereby creating a healing environment for the patient and the family.
authors.affiliation: The Center for Professional Excellence, The Methodist Hospital, Houston, Texas 77030, USA. nbonuel@tmhs.org
authors.forename: Nena
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bonuel
authors.forename: Sandra K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Cesario
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology*; D062072:Patient Acuity; D010362:Patients' Rooms / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011209:Power, Psychological