Towards a shared understanding Exploring encounters in hospital care from the perspectives of nurses and patients

Sammanfattning: The overall aim of this licentiate thesis was to describe encounters in hospital care from the perspectives of nurses and patients. It focuses specifically on nurses’ views of shortcomings in patient-care encounters in one hospital (I) and the meanings of participation in hospital care as narrated by patients (II). Three focus group discussions with 15 registered nurses were conducted, and data were analyzed using thematic content analysis (I). Narrative interviews were conducted with 15 patients in hospital care, and the interviews were analyzed with a phenomenological hermeneutic interpretation (II). This licentiate thesis shows that a shared understanding is considered as central for both the nurses and the patients in the hospital-care encounter. The nurses demonstrate the need to understand, to create space, and also to be available for vulnerable patients. The patients describe the need to be understood and to understand their own situations. This thesis suggests that positive encounters in hospital care imply that nurses need to take responsibility for creating a mutual dialogue where the patient experiences himself or herself as a co-creator in a trustful context. When nurses acknowledge and confirm the vulnerability of their patients, it becomes possible to support them to participate in an active manner. A well-functioning team, as well as a coherent environment, is, in this thesis, understood as a precondition for positive hospitalcare encounters.