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Using Visual and Narrative Methods to Achieve Fair Process in Clinical Care
Published on: February 16, 2011
Unstable embodiments: a phenomenological interpretation of patient satisfaction with treatment outcome
Pamela L Hudak1, Patricia McKeever, James G Wright
1St. Michael's Hospital and Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, 4-036, Queen Wing, 30 Bond Street, Toronto ON M5B 1W8, Canada. hudakp@smh.toronto.on.ca
Abstract:
Many patients experience aspects of treatment and care as dehumanizing because the body is considered separate from the self and its life context. An attempt to transcend viewing persons in dualistic terms is posed by phenomenologists who focus not on "the body" as such but on what it means to be "embodied." In this paper, we review the relevance of the phenomenology of the body for health care and report the results of comparing Sally Gadow's phenomenological insights about body-self unity with a qualitative analysis of patients' accounts of satisfaction with the outcome of hand surgery. We illustrate the ways in which our findings were and were not congruent with Gadow's conceptualization of embodiment and highlight aspects that are ambiguous. We conclude that the body-self dialectical relationship should be recast as a body-self-society trialectic and discuss the implications of this new conceptualization for clinical practices.
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Patient outcomes reflect the patient's response to the goal rather than what the nurse aims to achieve. Terminology should be observable and measurable to avoid the reader's interpretation. The desired outcome should be realistic and achievable in the designated care timeframe. Expected outcomes should align with adjunctive therapies. The outcome should enhance care evaluation by...
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