Care interaction adding challenges to old patients' well-being during surgical hospital treatment.
Today, hospitals offer surgical treatment within a short hospital admission. This brief interaction may challenge the well-being of old patients. The aim of this study was to explore how the well-being of old hospitalized patients was affected by the interaction with staff during a fast-track surgical treatment and hospital admission for colon cancer. We used an ethnographic methodology with field observations and unstructured interviews focusing on one patient at a time (n=9) during a full day; the hours ranging from 7:45 a.m. to 8 p.m. Participants were between 74 and 85 years of age and of both sexes. The study was reported to the Danish Data Protection Agency with reference number (2007-58-0010). The encounter between old patients and the staff was a main theme in our findings elucidating a number of care challenges. The identified care challenges illustrated "well-being as a matter of different perspectives," "vulnerability in contrast to well-being," and "staff mix influencing the care encounter." The experience of well-being in old cancer patients during hospital admission was absent or challenged when staff did not acknowledge their individual vulnerability and needs.
Horsens Hospital Research Unit, Horsens, Denmark.|Department of Health, Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark; lisuhr@hst.aau.dk.
Lisbeth
L
Uhrenfeldt
Research Unit, Elective Surgery Centre, Silkeborg Regional Hospital, Silkeborg, Denmark.
Mette Terp
MT
Høybye
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017028:Caregivers; D003107:Colorectal Surgery / Q000451:nursing*; D003718:Denmark; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009732:Nursing Care / Q000592:standards*; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D036301:Qualitative Research; D013315:Stress, Psychological
Well-being; continuity of care; ethnography; health; hermeneutics; nursing care; patient-centred care; qualitative