| Summary: | Aim: The aim of this study was to describe how patients with acute illness experience their given care in the emergency department. Method: A literature review of ten studies where differences and similarities were analyzed. These studies had been published between the years of 2000 and 2011. Results: The analysis showed a lack of sufficient care concerning patients’ subjective experiences. The researchers found three themes that specifically stood out when studies that had already been made were researched. These themes played an important role in care in the emergency department and insufficient attention to these from the staff could lead to a negative impact on patients’ experiences. The themes were: patients’ participation, patients’ need of communication and information and waiting period. The result showed that a lack in these presented themes could cause feelings of distress, frustration and irritation among patients. Because of this they often used different kinds of strategies to get more involved in their own caring process. Conclusion: The conclusion of this study was that there is a lack of resources within the emergency department where lack of personnel is the most forthcoming reason to patients’ negative experiences. There was however ways for the nurses to improve patients’ experiences within the emergency department by using Travelbee’s philosophy. This was to better interact and understand the patients’ lived experiences as a whole. Every patient is unique and by using proper communication, nurses can understand the patients’ whole life situation and by that, improve the quality of care.
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