Title

“I felt isolated”: Patients’ Hospitalization Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Author

Julia Patrick, UMass Chan Medical SchoolFollow

ORCID

0000-0002-5643-5084

Publication Date

2022-04-25

Document Type

Dissertation, Doctoral

Department

Graduate School of Nursing

Dissertation Committee Chair

Nancy Morris

Keywords

Patient experience, Patient Perception, Nursing Care, COVID-19, Hospitalization, Comfort needs

Subject Categories

Nursing | Other Nursing

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this Qualitative Descriptive study was to describe the experience of hospitalized adults during the pandemic who did not have COVID-19.

Specific Aims: The specific aims of the study were to:

1. Describe the hospital experience, including but not limited to, interactions with hospital staff, visitation, isolation, physical and emotional stressors, and the environment.

1. Identify perceived comfort needs during hospitalization and perceptions of the nurse’s role in providing comforting interventions.
2. Examine the ability to achieve physical, psychospiritual, sociocultural, and environmental comfort during hospitalization despite the required infection control measures.

Framework: This study was guided by Kolcaba’s Theory of Comfort (1994).

Design: This was a qualitative descriptive study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted. Interview questions focused on the overall hospital experience, the nurse’s role in their experience, comfort needs, and the experience of having comfort needs met during the hospitalization.

Results: Twenty participants took part in this study. Conventional content analysis revealed five main themes. The themes are: I don’t expect the hospital to be comfortable, I was always tense, Wanting human connection, Communication is important, and Nurses are busy.

Conclusion: The findings identified a need for targeting education, research, and policy development to improve patient comfort (physical, psycho-spiritual, sociocultural, and environmental). This is important as we look toward improving the overall patient experience during hospitalization.

DOI

10.13028/zvs1-1p48

Rights and Permissions

Copyright © 2022 Patrick

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Repository Citation

Patrick J. (2022). “I felt isolated”: Patients’ Hospitalization Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing Dissertations. https://doi.org/10.13028/zvs1-1p48. Retrieved from https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/gsn_diss/71