Suffering caused by care—Patients’ experiences from hospital settings

Abstract

Suffering and well-being are significant aspects of human existence; in particular, suffering and well-being are important aspects of patients’ experiences following diseases. Increased knowledge about existential dimensions of illness and healthcare experiences may be needed in order to improve care and reduce unnecessary suffering. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to illuminate the phenomenon of suffering experienced in relation to healthcare needs among patients in hospital settings in Sweden. In this study, we used a reflective lifeworld approach. The data were analysed with a focus on meanings. The results describe the essential meaning of the phenomenon of suffering in relation to healthcare needs. The patients were suffering during care-giving when they felt distrusted or mistreated and when their perspective on illness and health was overlooked. Suffering was found to arise due to healthcare actions that neglected a holistic and patient-centred approach to care. Unfortunately, healthcare experiences that cause patients to suffer seem to be something one needs to endure without being critical. The phenomenon can be described as having four constituents: to be mistreated; to struggle for one's healthcare needs and autonomy; to feel powerless; and to feel fragmented and objectified. The study concludes that there are problems associated with patients experiencing suffering at the hands of healthcare providers, even if this suffering may not have been caused deliberately to the patient. Consequently, conscious improvements are needed to lessen the suffering caused by care-giving, as are strategies that promote more patient-centred care and patient participation.

Keywords

• Caring
• suffering
• patients' perspective
• lived experiences
• lifeworld
• existential
• attitudes
• nursing
• participation
• phenomenology