Encountering the older confused patient: professional carers' experiences

THE STUDY'S RATIONALE: Confusion is a common condition among older patients and often a fearful experience. Opinions vary as to how to communicate with and care for confused patients and professional carers often find the patients' situation almost as distressing as the patients' themselves do.

The aim of this study was to describe professional carers' experiences of their encounters with older confused patients.

Data was collected from interviews with 10 professional carers working on a ward specializing in the care of older confused patients. A descriptive phenomenological research approach was used to gather knowledge of professional carers' experiences of encounters with older confused patients.

A Regional Board of Research Ethics granted ethical permission for the study. The appropriate ethical principles were followed. The participants were contacted personally and received a letter providing information on the study. Written consent was requested before the interview. If needed, the participants were able to get in contact with the staff health service for a follow-up after the interview. Names or places have been changed in order to ensure confidentiality.

The encounter with the confused patient is experienced as an encounter with an unfamiliar person, where the patients' actions and words are unforeseeable and with a lack of immediate trust. The essential meaning is further illuminated by the meaning constituents: the unforeseeable encounter, always being on guard and using oneself as a tool.

This paper focuses on the importance of encouraging professional carers to pay attention to the complexity of the encounter with the confused patient, reflecting upon their own behaviour within these encounters and the importance of knowledge of the patient's preferred senses and life stories. Caring for confused patients involves a great responsibility where both the professional carers and the patients are vulnerable and exposed.