Organdonation - ett ljus i mörkret : En kvalitativ studie om donationsansvariga sjuksköterskors känslor och hanteringen av dessa i samband med organdonationsprocessen

Sammanfattning: Background The organ donation process is a large and complicated process. The need for organs is great and is expected to increase as the methods in healthcare becomes increasingly advanced. According to previous studies, the organ donation process has shown to be mentally and physically demanding for nurses and relatives. Therefore, it is necessary to find out what emotions the nurses experiences and how these are handled. Aim The aim of the study was to describe the emotions of donation nurses and the handling of these in connection with the organ donation process. Method The study is an empirical descriptive interview study with a qualitative approach. Eight donation-nurses have been interviewed through semi-structured interviews. The interviews have been analyzed through qualitative content analysis, where they have been condensed, coded and categorized. Main result The result showed that the organ donation process was a demanding process that involved increased workload and stress for the nurses. They also experienced difficult emotions, especially when meeting the relatives and talking to them about potential donation, but also when donation was not possible. However, donation was seen as something beautiful and was described as a light in the dark. The nurses used different types of coping strategies to handle the difficult feelings, such as relive and support the nurse in charge and do debriefing and talking to colleagues. Conclusion The organ donation process is complex and induces both difficult and positive feelings for the nurses. Participating relatives, experience, unloading workload, talking with colleagues, and debriefing was important for being able to handle the hard feelings. To understand the emotions nurses encounters during this process and how these are handled is important to improve nurses health and to create the best possible conditions for a successful organ donation process.