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[The invisible patient--patients' experiences of staying in a hallway bed]
1Det medisinske fakultet, Institutt for sykepleievitenskap, Oslo. cfoss@ulrik.uio.no
Background:
Shortage of beds is a problem for several Norwegian hospitals. In more than 80% of internal medicine wards in Norway, corridors are used for patients' beds.
Material And Methods:
In a questionnaire survey of in-patient experience, 774 out of 2,267 respondents responded to an open-ended invitation for comments. Of these comments, 64 were analysed with a focus on the described experience of staying in a corridor bed.
Results:
Contents analysis confirms the assumed problems of noise, sleep disturbance, indiscretion and lack of privacy. The main finding is that patients expressed a paradoxical feeling of being invisible right there out in the corridor.
Interpretation:
The patients' description of the experience of being avoided and unseen by fellow patients as well as health professionals is useful knowledge if doctors and staff are to counteract the disadvantages of staying in a corridor bed.