TRANSCRIPT OF REGISTERED NURSE: ALICE STUDY SETTING: ST. MARY’S HOSPITAL DATE: 17.06.10
VENUE: OFFICE OF THE PARTICIPANT TIME: 13H00
Interviewer: thank you very much Alice for the time you have given to be a
participant in the study. I know you have enough in your plate, particularly now that you have given your lunch time and made yourself available for the interview.
About Term Caring: What’s your understanding Alice?
Interviewee: (Rolling her eyes)… well I believe that caring is essential in nursing.
My understanding is we should be showing how to care for our patients, by
communicating well with them. By accepting them Having non-judgmental attitudes towards them…empathizing with them…showing all our listening skills for example we should be draw into a trust relationship with us…I think that that really is the basis of caring…
Interviewer: About the term, Terminal Patient: what is it for you?
154 Interviewee: Terminal patient is one who has probably poor prognosis. Probably, in the last stages of life…..Maybe approaching death soon or may have a few weeks/
months period of life….nothing can be done for patient….the only thing to assist in pain control….
Interviewer:
You said, you worked with male female patients, what was your experience?
Interviewee:
Well, that was a long time ago…. I worked a lot with the care of the elderly….from 1996-2000 I worked in (mentions the name of Hospital) which specialized in chronic ill patients….and the terminal ill patients….It all began in 2008 when I was in a surgical ward…..We had a patient who came in for exploration and he had a small incision but it never healed. Two months to three months down the line the whole abdominal normal wall had broken down. She was an amazing patient…Her family visited. I was just there, comforting them…counseling them…There are many, many terminally ill patients I nursed, mainly with HIV/AIDS, a few cancer cases and other chronic disease such hypertension and Diabetes Mellitus. All were hospital based of cause.
Interviewer: What helped you to care for your patients?
Interviewee: My own background helped me a lot. I come from a caring family….the marvelous role models I had when I was on training. They were totally professional
155 people and they showed compassion…and dedication. Responsibility in caring for them: as a senior nurse I was in-charge of the ward…and I had to take responsibility for caring for those people, which I actually quite enjoyed.
Interviewer: What hindered you from caring for your patients that were terminally ill?
Interviewee: Burnout is one major hindrance of them: When you just can’t face to look at another terminally patient. With it you get very tired…and then you giving of yourself all the time,..you are so exhausted that you can’t anymore give of yourself. I think that it’s a big problem, in terminally ill….in fact in any nursing actually you do get burnout.
Management: When you have got a terminally patient and you are called away from the ward, because of the meeting or they want something from you to do….where you have to leave the ward….but you have a patient that is probably demise for the next 20 minutes…you can incur the wrath of management if you say no, I am not coming…as one manager couldn’t no longer talk to me when I said I couldn’t live a patient a lone.
But I think burnout is the most terrible experience in nursing.
Ummm, what else? Patients that are terminally ill for long time…
Shortage of staff, you cannot actually spend the time you want to spend with the patient…you feel limited in many ways.
Emmm, what else…patients that are ill for a long, in the long run you get tired….
Interviewer:
How did your experiences influence the care that you give to your patients?
156 Interviewee: Actually having lengthy experiences in nursing it’s wonderful. It makes you more relaxed in caring for your patients. You have experience in caring for a relative…What else…or another thing, which helps to care for patients is support: if you have a good team, it’s actually marvelous. If you don’t have this it’s not
easy…because we help one another in the care of terminally ill patients. If you don’t have that then…it’s not easy unless you have a team.
Experience is important because it makes you more relaxed and more able to handle the situations. Sometimes we have to help patient to finish unfinished business…and you know,,,,I think as a young sister I would not have known what to do…but as I matured and became more experienced, I was able to cope better too.
Interviewer: What would you improve on for the care of terminal patients?
Interviewee: Understanding of terminally and palliative care:
Clinically on the ward, if the patient is in charge, it must be more someone who is a role model…good role model for the students to emulate..Emm, Iam just thinking now of the situation in (mentions name of hospital)…we had a very close network system…we all supported one another and helped one another, sometimes if you saw something which was too much for one, we all came around and helped. The one sister would just call and ask for assistance, please come and help, I have a problem here…and we would respond…so that team work was absolutely wonderful.
And of cause we also laughed. We had a lovely tea lounge, we used to sit and used to…laugh at ourselves at our predicaments and the various things that happened at
157 the hosp. so that was absolutely wonderful and those people I was working with, we had such a bond…so it’s important to create unity with the staff. They bond.. they connect with each other….so when one is tired the other will step in….But I don’t know where is that support and networking in nursing today… we seem to have lost such a precious time…When I look back on it, and think what a wonderful time! If you want to discuss something, say you are worried about pain –control, then you know you felt comfortable calling another member of staff and saying, there is this patient with pain, what do you suggest to do with this?
They are wonderful support:
We had times too: e.g. nurse with nervous breakdown: we all supported her, trying to get her back to work.
So thanks it was great to have you for an interview.
I hope I said the right thing, and everything.
Interviewer: Thank you Alice very much for sharing your rich experience with me.
If I there is anything, that I need clarity on, once I have transcribed your information, I will contact for clarification. I hope you do not mind.
Interviewee: Oh no please, feel free.
The interview ended at 13:45
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