Just because I love nursing doesn’t mean it loves me back’ -The experiences of providing patient care on acute medical nurses’ personal health perceptions: An interpretive phenomenological analysis

Elliott, Christopher Raymond 2022. Just because I love nursing doesn’t mean it loves me back’ -The experiences of providing patient care on acute medical nurses’ personal health perceptions: An interpretive phenomenological analysis. Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

Aim To explore the lived experiences of nurses working in AAU when caring for acutely ill patients and to examine how AAU nurses make sense of their experiences in terms of their own health and well-being. Methodology and design This qualitative study took place in a large regional hospital in the North-East of England. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was the chosen methodology. IPA is an approach, epistemological position and a way of doing research and this influenced the research design. Participant voice was a priority throughout this research and a heavy emphasis was placed on ensuring this was represented. The study used purposive sampling to recruit a small homogenous sample of 6 experienced AAU nurses. One-to-one semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather rich data relating to participants’ experiences of caring in AAU and how this impacted upon their personal health perceptions. Findings The key findings of this study fit into three super-ordinate themes; I feel like I’m drowning, I don’t want to end up like that, repeat offenders. Drowning as a metaphor, was used by participants to describe the emotional and physical burden of their work. Participants described not wanting to become their patients and rationalised these feeling in terms of the futility of aging and the acceptance they would develop conditions commonly seen in their patients. An unexpected finding was the description of patients as ‘repeat offenders’, this pejorative term was used to describe self-inflicted regular attenders. They were viewed as a waste of time and a reason for nurses to become burnt out. Recommendations The ‘I feel like I’m drowning’ and ‘I don’t want to end up like that’ themes suggest a v need for further research to examine the impact of stress, anxiety and altered health-beliefs of nurses arising from their belief that they will develop the illnesses of their patients. The ‘repeat offender’ findings suggest a need to explore nurses’ perceptions in greater detail and to attempt to identify strategies to manage the burnout associated with this patient group.

Item Type:	Thesis (Other)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Healthcare Sciences
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	18 May 2023
Last Modified:	18 May 2023 11:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/159586

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