Biomedical subjects

Katie Eriksson

Publications and source records attributed to Katie Eriksson.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

The aesthetic dimension in hospitals--an investigation into strategic plans.

BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE: The underlying assumption was that the aesthetics of the hospital surroundings are often neglected. AIMS: This article is the first part of a larger study into the aesthetics of general hospitals. The aim of the study is to throw light on the influence of aesthetics on the health and well-being of patients and the professional personnel, and to examine how aesthetic considerations are dealt with. We present a survey of how the aesthetic dimension is planned and it is considered important in the strategic plans of Norwegian general hospitals. METHODS: Data were sampled by analyzing the strategic plans of somatic hospitals. Sixty-four of 86 hospitals responded (74%). Concepts were categorized in a matrix of 11 main categories, each with subcategories. The method was quantitative, in that the analyzed material was amenable to counting. RESULTS: Very few concrete guidelines or directions for the aesthetic dimension have been included in written documents. This indicates that the aesthetic area is a neglected field in the directions for the daily management of hospitals. CONCLUSIONS: The research available today on the contribution of environmental aesthetics to health, rehabilitation, and well-being suggests that it is important to have concrete guidelines recorded in strategic plans. This field concerns the maintenance of high quality in the caring professions.

Art↗

PubMed2005

Recording the content of the caring process.

In the present study, a theoretical basis for the content of caring and nursing documentation is described. The goal was to find out to what extent documentation based on the theory might reveal the patients' experience and views of their care. Documenting according to Eriksson's (1997, 2001) caring science theory was tried out in an intervention study. The content of nursing care records was evaluated before the intervention and after completing it. After the intervention the nurses' experiences of the theory-based recording were collected by means of questionnaires. According to the evaluation performed after the intervention, the content of the documentation had improved on several wards. The nurses paid more attention to the patients' views than before when documenting care in the way introduced in the study. According to the results nurses need strong support from their managers in order to successfully be able to implement a theoretical basis of documentation of care.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

PubMed2005

Documentation of individualized patient care: a qualitative metasynthesis.

The aim of this study was to increase understanding of how individual patient care and the ethical principles prescribed for nursing care are implemented in nursing documentation. The method used was a metasynthesis of the results of 14 qualitative research reports. The results indicate that individualized patient care is not visible in nurses' documentation of care. It seems that nurses describe their tasks more frequently than patients' experiences of their care. The results also show that the structure of nursing documentation and the forms or manner of recording presupposed by the organization may prevent individual recording of patient care. In order to obtain visibility for good patient-centred and ethical nursing care, an effort should be made to influence how the content of nursing care is documented and made an essential part of individual patient care. If the content of this documentation does not give an accurate picture of care, patients' right to receive good nursing care may not be realized.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

PubMed2004

Suffering related to health care: a study of breast cancer patients' experiences.

A previous study indicated that patient narratives include experiences of suffering caused or increased by health-care encounters. The aim of this study was to interpret and understand the meaning of patients' experiences of suffering related to health care from an ethical, existential and ontological standpoint. Sixteen women with breast cancer in Sweden and Finland took part in qualitative interviews analysed with a hermeneutic, interpretive approach. The outcome showed that suffering related to health care is a complex phenomenon and constitutes an ethical challenge to health-care personnel. The women's experiences of suffering related to health care tended to be of similar seriousness as their experiences of suffering in relation to having cancer. In an ethical, existential and ontological sense, suffering related to health care is basically a matter of neglect and uncaring where the patient's existential suffering is not seen and she is not viewed as a whole human being.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Structuring the documentation of nursing care on the basis of a theoretical process model.

The aim of this study was to develop the documentation of the substance of nursing care on the basis of a theoretical caring process model. The theory is Eriksson's caring process model and her theory of health, suffering and caring. The approach of the research task was dialogue. As a research method Koski's adaptation of Gadamer's theory of hermeneutic experience was used, in which Gadamer's hermeneutic text interpretation is divided into four phases. The phases are the explicit analysis of preunderstanding, hermeneutic dialogue, the merging of horizons and active application. The dialogue is carried on between Eriksson's theory of health, suffering and caring and clinical nursing practice and between the caring process model and nursing practice. The goal is to achieve a new scientific view on which to base the documentation of nursing care. As a result of the dialogue a classification in accordance with Eriksson's caring-process model is presented. In the next phase of the study the classification is piloted in a clinical context. The purpose is to obtain knowledge of whether the suggested classification describes what, according to the theory, it should describe.

Data Collection↗

PubMed2004

The progression of suffering implies alleviated suffering.

There is a lack of research focusing directly on both patients' suffering and alleviated suffering in relation to care. The aim of this paper was to investigate the progression of suffering in relation to the encounter between the suffering person and the caregiver from the perspective of an understanding of life. The progression of suffering is assumed to be an existential 'sign' of the development of understanding of life as an ontological or spiritual entity, which demands a meaning-creating encounter between the patient and caregiver. The concept 'existential caring encounter' was used to describe how the encounter between patient and caregiver can create meaning in communion and thereby alleviate suffering by making it bearable. The study was carried out using an interpretive, hermeneutic approach. The study as a whole comprises three parts, and these include letter-writing and interviews. The findings are described by the following main theses: (a) a darkness in life understanding is existentially experienced as unbearable suffering and requires an encounter involving attentive care and confrontation; (b) the turning point means that the struggle of suffering begins; and (c) the encounter involves being meaning-creating in a communion in the struggle of suffering. An understanding of the patterns of unbearable and bearable suffering can be of help to the caregiver in caring for the patient by serving as a basis for meaning-creation in communion. This may thereby be a way of alleviating the patient's suffering by making it bearable during the progression of suffering.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2004

Understanding the importance of values and moral attitudes in nursing care in preserving human dignity.

The purpose of this investigation was to explore when nursing becomes an art, and to develop a theory/model of nursing as art. The overall design of the investigation was qualitative, and phenomenological-hermeneutic. The five substantial categories in the theory/model are: Invitation and confirmation, encounter, values, moral attitude and demeanor, the act of good will, and aesthetic communication. One main finding of this nursing investigation based on the caring perspective was that values and a thoroughly moral attitude and demeanor are central when nursing becomes an art.

Art↗

PubMed2004

A theoretical approach to documentation of care.

The purpose of this column is to present a theoretical background for understanding nursing care documentation. The theory used was Eriksson's theory of health and suffering. An adaptation of Gadamer's hermenuetic method was used to apply the theory to a way of thinking about clinical practice. The hermeneutic dialogue took place between Eriksson's caring science texts and clinical nursing practice. The dialogue shows that relating different dimensions of the patient's health and suffering to the dimensions of care seems to provide the necessary prerequisites for the development of a theoretical background for the documentation of care. It also allows the patient's views and experiences to be revealed in the documents related to nursing care.

Attitude to Health↗

PubMed2003

Evaluation of patient records as part of developing a nursing care classification.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the content of nursing care records and the usefulness of the instrument used for their evaluation. The evaluation involved 70 patient records from seven acute special care inpatient units. The evaluation instrument used was based on Phaneuf's Nursing Audit as further developed by Lukander. The nursing records in all the care units evaluated was very good or good. However, some deficiencies were found, for instance, regarding patient teaching and recording patients' own opinions. The method proved adequate for evaluating the content of patient records.

Decision Making↗

PubMed2003

The ethics of the caring conversation.

The aim of this study was to explore the ethical foundations for a caring The analysis is based on the ethics of Paul Ricoeur and deals with questions such as what kind of person the nurse ought to be and how she or he engages in caring conversations with suffering others. According to Ricoeur, ethics (the aim of an accomplished life) has primacy over morality (the articulation of aims in norms). At the ethical level, self-esteem and autonomy were shown to be essential for a person (nurse) to act with respect and responsibility. The ethical relationship of a caring conversation was found to metrical, because of the passivity inflicted by suffering. This asymmetry was found to be potentially unethical if not balanced with reciprocity. In the ethical context, the caring conversation is one in which the nurse makes room through the ethos of caritas for a suffering person to regain his or her self-esteem, and thus makes a good life possible.

Altruism↗

PubMed2002

Caring science in a new key.

A reorientation is going on in caring science. It could be called a new key characterized by more humanistically oriented thinking, which gives new significance to caring science. The sounding board of the new key is to be found in its ontological core. Its progress depends on whether we will succeed in laying bare the core of caring and developing its fundamental concepts and main theory. We need to regain the hermeneutical approach to penetrate into the core. Caring today needs this knowledge to help the patient in an increasingly complex world.

Empathy↗

PubMed2002

Grasping the essence of the spiritual dimension reflected through the horizon of suffering: an interpretative research synthesis.

The purpose of this research synthesis was to describe the essence of the spiritual dimension reflected through the horizon of suffering. The material reviewed consisted of 18 articles published between 1989 and 2000 in caring and nursing journals. A depth in the interpretation of the texts was discovered where four different themes emerged: undemanding communion, confirmation of dignity, the dialectic of suffering, and the creation of coherence of meaning.

Clinical Nursing Research↗