Nurse anaesthetist students' experiences of patient dignity in perioperative practice-a hermeneutic study.
Berit T Valeberg, Ingrid Liodden, Bergsvein Grimsmo and 1 others
PMID 29344395WHAT IT FOUND
Students recorded incidents where staff preserved dignity by slowing down to listen, offering choices like holding the oxygen mask, and keeping bodies covered.
They also noted violations: nurses discussing patients as if they were not there, mocking their weight or wounds, and leaving intimate areas exposed.
Key findings
01Preserving dignity involved allocating time to listen and reassure, inviting patients to participate in decisions, and shielding their bodies from view.
02Violations included ignoring the patient by talking over them, making malicious remarks about their condition, and exposing intimate body parts unnecessarily.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study relies on students' interpretations of incidents, not the patients' own reported feelings. The sample size is small (23 students) and limited to one region in Norway. Students may have been primed to look for dignity issues by prior lectures on the topic.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume these findings represent the patients' own experiences. The study reports what students observed and interpreted, not what patients felt. Additionally, this is a study of nursing education and student perception, not a trial of an intervention to improve care.