Abstract
Patients with renal failure (RS) are continuously increasing. Patients are being treated by hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis or transplantation, which to a different extent affects their quality of life.
Nursing care for these patients is long-lasting, complex and specific; Understanding the unique experiences of the patient will allow individualized and high quality care to be provided. The aim of the research is to describe how patients with expert and intimate knowledge of RS treatment are subjective to the quality of their lives and what it means for nursing care.
Qualitative research was conducted in the form of non-standardized semi-structured interviews with RS patients. The data obtained are evaluated by thematic analysis, categorized into codes and categories.
The informants were informed in advance of the course of the research and its ethical aspect and agreed to be included in the research. The patient describes the improvement of hemodialysis treatment since 1988 from the perspective of the user-expert.
Transplantation, however, temporarily allowed her to live a "normal" life she considers to be normal, with the need for medication and constant controls. The patient specifically defines strategies to manage her illness while clearly realizing her poor quality of life, but she still has the motivation to live an active life.
The findings will help improve care for patients with renal failure in the dialysis center where the research was conducted because we can better understand the patient's needs and their views on the issue. Partial results will be published for wider use.