Patient participation in emergency care – A phenomenographic study based on patients’ lived experience

Frank, Catharina; Asp, Margareta; Dahlberg, Karin

doi:10.1016/j.ienj.2008.09.003

« Previous Next »International Emergency Nursing
Volume 17, Issue 1 , Pages 15-22, January 2009

Patient participation in emergency care – A phenomenographic study based on patients’ lived experience

Catharina Frank, RN, MSc ((Doctoral Student))
- School of Health Sciences and Social Work, Växjö University, Växjö, Sweden
- Department of Caring and Public Health Sciences, Mälardalen University, P.O. Box 325, SE-63105 Eskilstuna, Sweden
- Corresponding author. Address: Department of Caring and Public Health Sciences, Mälardalen University, P.O. Box 325, SE-63105 Eskilstuna, Sweden. Tel.: +46 73 634 634 8; fax: +46 16 153258.
Margareta Asp, RN, BSc, PhD ((Senior Lecturer))
- Department of Caring and Public Health Sciences, Mälardalen University, P.O. Box 325, SE-63105 Eskilstuna, Sweden
- Tel.: +46 16 153753; fax: +46 16 153258.
Karin Dahlberg, RN, PhD ((Professor))
- School of Health Sciences and Social Work, Växjö University, Växjö, Sweden
- Tel.: +46 470 708309; fax: +46 470 36310.

Received 30 June 2008; received in revised form 22 September 2008; accepted 23 September 2008.

Abstract

International guidelines promote patient participation in health care. When patients participate in their care they experience greater satisfaction. Studies have shown that patients in emergency departments express dissatisfaction with their care, and it was therefore important to study how patients understand and conceptualize their participation. The aim of this study was to describe patients’ qualitatively different conceptions of patient participation in their care in an emergency department. Based on a lifeworld perspective, nine interviews were performed with patients in an emergency department. The phenomenographic analysis shows that participation by patients means contact with the emergency department staff in three categories of conceptions: being acknowledged; struggling to become involved; and having a clear space. The different conceptions of patient participation give us a deeper understanding of how patients may experience their care, and this result may provide a foundation for developing nursing practice and the quality of health care in line with international guidelines.

Keywords: Caring, Emergency department, Patient, Participation, Lifeworld, Phenomenography