Caring experience of patients through interaction with nurses

Abstract

The aim of this study was to clarify Japanese patients’ caring experiences through interactions with nurses. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 patients aged over 19 years who had been hospitalized. Four themes and seven subthemes were extracted using thematic analysis. Patients felt cared for when they perceived a “sense of security provided by the nurse’s personality” during their interactions, and realized that their “perception of the interaction depended on the pain.” The interaction of these experiences and “the trust that deepened through conversations” led to the overall perception of the caring experience provided by individual nurses. Furthermore, the patients experienced “unity in the nursing team” from the interaction with the group of nurses in their ward. These themes suggest that in addition to improving the attitude and expertise of individual nurses, it is necessary to improve their organizational skills in order to deepen the caring experience of patients.