Den omsorgsfulle sykepleier — slik pasienter ser det

This article deals with one out of four themes for the interview in a qualitative study about caring. The theme is: «How do cancer patients staying in a cancer ward for treatment know that nurses care about them?» The research method is based on Giorgi's approach to phenomenology. Twenty patients were interviewed. The patients had various cancer diagnoses in different stages and with different prognosis, but most of them (16) had metastasis from their disease. The findings show that all the patients were able to identify one or to nurses that cared more about them then the others. The units of meaning identified can be clustered into following themes: The caring nurse «takes time to talk to me as an individual», «she is concerned about me», «she gives me information and explains» and «she is smiling and has a good sense of humour». The essential description of the caring nurse was that she meets the patients as fellow human beings more than patients. The study also shows that from the patients perspective care seems to have more to do with concern and awareness than time.