Paper
Friday, July 23, 2004
My Life Is Changing
Jantana Chuenwisit, MS, RN, Renal Unit, Police General Hospital, Patumwan, Bangkok, Thailand and Areewan Oumtanee, RN, PhD, School of Nursing, Chulalongkorn University, Pratumwan, Bangkok, Thailand.
| Learning Objective #1: Understand life experiences of patient with renal failure |
| Learning Objective #2: Discover perception of diagnosis of renal failure from patient's perspective |
The purpose of this phenomenological study was exploring life changes experienced by patients with end-stage renal disease. Study participants were selected by purposive sampling from Renal Center located in Bangkok. Twenty-two patients with renal failure were willing to participate in this study. In-depth interview with tape-record was used to collect data. All interviews were transcribed verbatim and then analyzed by using content analysis. Study finding showed a substantive theme, called “my life is changing” consisting of 4 categories: being fatigue, getting stress, living without hope, and waiting to die. Being fatigue was referred to physical changes from being healthy to weak. Getting stress was defined as psychological changes including emotional instability and confronting with financial problems. Living without hope was referred to day to day living. Patient would not set goal in life because they never known when they would be death. Wanting to die was defined as the final stage of the disease that could not be cured. Patients wanted to die and some tried to commit suicide. The finding of this study indicated that when patients learnt their diagnosis and suffered with physical symptoms, unfamiliar treatment, nursing and medical routines and changes to past activities and even social life, they got negative experiences. Nurses should emphasize the importance of nursing support to help patients appropriately cope with their diagnosis and treatment and meet their needs.
Back to Palliative Care and the Nurse
Back to 15th International Nursing Research Congress
Sigma Theta Tau International
July 22-24, 2004