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Patients' existential situation prior to colorectal surgery.
Monica Moene1, Ingegerd Bergbom, Carola Skott
1Faculty of Health and Caring Sciences, Institute of Nursing, The Sahlgrenska Academy at Goteborg University, Goteborg, Sweden. monica.moene@fhs.gu.se
Journal of Advanced Nursing
|March 24, 2006
Summary
Patients awaiting colorectal surgery experience existential uncertainty regarding their body, time, and relationships. Nurses were largely invisible, highlighting a need for more attentive preoperative patient care.
Area of Science:
- Nursing
- Existential Phenomenology
- Surgical Patient Care
Background:
- Preoperative patients experience anxiety, fear of the unknown, and concerns about diagnosis and death.
- Previous research highlights the importance of information and coping strategies for reducing surgical stress.
- A gap exists in understanding the existential situation of patients before surgery.
Purpose of the Study:
- To illuminate the existential situation of patients awaiting colorectal surgery.
- To explore the value of the patient-nurse encounter in the preoperative phase.
Main Methods:
- Hermeneutic phenomenological study.
- Conversational interviews with 28 patients one week before colorectal surgery.
- Analysis guided by van Manen's existential themes: lived space, body, time, and relation.
Main Results:
- Patients' hope or fear of spatiality depended on their diagnosis (benign vs. malignant).
- Lived time perception varied with diagnosis; benign diagnoses allowed relaxation, while malignancy caused anxiety.
- Patients felt ambivalent about entrusting their bodies to professionals and desired considerate caregivers for security.
Conclusions:
- Preoperative patients face existential uncertainty concerning space, body, time, and relationships.
- The nurse's role and significance were not evident in patient accounts.
- Utilizing existential themes could help nurses better identify and affirm preoperative patients' care needs.