Ambulanssjuksköterskans upplevelse av sårbarhet i relation till patienten : En empirisk intervjustudie som genomförts inom ambulanssjukvård

Abstract: Background: The concept of vulnerability has had a multifaceted role within the nursing profession. It has been defined as a risk and an existential human condition. In previous studies in the field of ambulance nurses profession the concept of vulnerability has only been described from the perspective of the patient. Aim: To describe the ambulance nurse experience of vulnerability in relation to the patient. Method: The study is an empirical study with qualitative design and phenomenological approach. Ambulance nurses from three ambulance stations participated (n = 8). The selection was made through information meetings. The interviews were semi-structured. Data were analyzed by qualitative content analysis. Results: The results show that ambulance nurses' experience of vulnerability were to be personal and emotional in the relationship with the patient. If the ambulance nurse was vulnerable could a genuine relationship established to the patient, there was a professional frontier of how vulnerable the ambulance nurse should be in their profession. Vulnerability affected the ambulance nurses both during and after working hours and was described as an emotional burden. Conclusion: The study shows that vulnerability was a complex phenomenon. Vulnerability was an emotional state that arose involuntarily of ambulance nurses in relation to specific patients. Ambulance nurses felt a moral ambivalence between being personal and professional. The study shows that the ambulance nurses did not consider vulnerability as a mutual existential condition in the encounter with the patient.