Beyond the Patient: Nursing Presence With Families During the Perioperative Period

Nurses have used the intervention of caring for many years, but little attention has been given to describing the phenomenon of nursing presence in the perioperative setting. The purpose of this research was to learn more about the experience of the connection of the family to the nurse who kept them informed during the perioperative period. A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was utilized to identify patterns of caring, connecting, and transpersonal nursing presence described by the family of surgical patients. Five women were interviewed for this study. Transcribed interviews became the phenomenological texts for my hermeneutic analysis. Essential themes were uncovered that captured the essence of their experience. The women described the nurse\u27s presence as a relationship that involved a kind of being with. They expressed a remarkable feeling knowing that someone cared, and described a special connection with someone they had just met. The presence of the nurse was an important factor in feeling reassured, even though time seemed endless. Perioperative nurses must understand the impact of nursing presence with families, and transform their nursing practice