Judith Kimchi-Woods is president emeritus of Chamberlain University's College of Nursing, Columbus campus, Columbus, OH. Robin Pugh is a clinical educator at OhioHealth Physician Group in Columbus. Molly Wiley is a staff nurse at OhioHealth Dublin Methodist Hospital in Dublin. Partial financial support was provided by Chamberlain University, which covered the costs of three audio recorders and transcription fees. Contact author: Judith Kimchi-Woods,
Am J Nurs. 2024 Aug 1;124(8):26-33. doi: 10.1097/01.NAJ.0001027120.47979.e4. Epub 2024 Jul 25.
An ED admission and hospitalization are scary experiences for anyone, and potentially more so for nurses. Yet there is scant information about nurses as patients in the nursing research literature. This likely reflects a general tendency among researchers to study the needs of patients but not those of nurses.
This qualitative phenomenological study sought to explore the lived experiences of nurses who were admitted as patients to a hospital directly from an ED.
A sample of nurse patients 21 years of age and older and including various genders, nursing specialties, and diagnoses were recruited using maximum variation purposive sampling. A semistructured interview guide was created, and data were collected through individual interviews conducted either face-to-face or via telephone. Data were coded manually, and thematic analysis was conducted using Dedoose software.
The analysis revealed that many participants had experienced tremendous undue stress during their hospitalization. Four themes were identified: to tell or not to tell, pulling the nurse card, taking one's care into one's own hands, and having to make medical decisions while sick.
The study findings indicate that nurses who are hospitalized have different needs than do hospitalized individuals in the lay population. The findings inform our recommendations, which health care organizations, nurse educators, and nurse leaders can use to promote smoother, more compassionate care for nurse patients. Staff nurses can use them to better prepare themselves for caring for a nurse patient-or becoming one. The study findings can also serve to guide future research.
对任何人来说，急诊就诊和住院都是可怕的经历，对护士来说可能更是如此。然而，护理研究文献中几乎没有关于护士作为患者的信息。这可能反映了研究人员普遍倾向于研究患者的需求，而不是护士的需求。
这项定性现象学研究旨在探讨直接从急诊科收治住院的护士患者的生活体验。
采用最大变异目的抽样法招募年龄在 21 岁及以上的护士患者，包括各种性别、护理专业和诊断。编制了半结构化访谈指南，并通过面对面或电话进行的个人访谈收集数据。数据进行手动编码，并使用 Dedoose 软件进行主题分析。
分析显示，许多参与者在住院期间经历了巨大的不必要的压力。确定了四个主题：说还是不说、拉护士卡、自己照顾自己的护理、在生病时做出医疗决策。
研究结果表明，住院护士的需求与普通人群中住院患者的需求不同。研究结果为我们的建议提供了信息，医疗机构、护理教育者和护理领导者可以利用这些建议来促进对护士患者更顺利、更富有同情心的护理。在职护士可以利用这些建议更好地为照顾护士患者或成为护士患者做准备。研究结果还可以为未来的研究提供指导。
