EMPIRICAL STUDIES The best way possible! A fieldwork study outlining expectations and needs for nursing of patients in endoscopy facilities for short-term stay Karin Bundgaard RN,MScN,PhD 1,2 , Karl Brian Nielsen MScE,PhD(Professor) 1 , Erik Elgaard Sørensen RN,MScN,PhD(Ass. Professor) 3 and Charlotte Delmar RN,MScN,PhD(Ass. Professor) 4 1 Department of Production, The Faculties of Engineering, Science and Medicine, Aalborg University, 2 Department of Gastroenterology, Aarhus University Hospital, 3 Chief of Clinical Nursing Research Unit, Aalborg Hospital Science and Innovation Center (AHSIC), Aarhus University Hospital and 4 Department of Nursing Science, School of Public Health & Institute of Clinical Medicine Health, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark. Scand J Caring Sci; 2013 The best way possible! A fieldwork study outlining expectations and needs for nursing of patients in endoscopy facilities for short-term stay This paper is a descriptive study of nursing in facilities for short-term stay, aiming to outline the expectations and needs for nursing of patients undergoing gastroscopy in outpatient endoscopy clinics. Existing research finds it important to meet patients’ expectations and needs for help to get through a procedure in the best and safest way possible. Despite recent years’ focus on patient expectations, little attention has been paid to understand- ing the patients’ distinct expectations and needs for nurs- ing in the context of facilities for short-term stay. A fieldwork study influenced by practical ethnographic principles was performed in high-technology endoscopy outpatient clinics during 2008 – 2010. Data were col- lected using triangulation of participant observation for 12 weeks including participant reports and semi-struc- tured interviews with eight patients and four nurses. The expectations and needs for nursing of patients undergo- ing gastroscopy were related to two main areas, summarized by the categories: ‘Nervousness and anxiety’ and ‘Maintaining control’. The former concerned how patients managed their nervousness and anxiety and was described differently in terms of ‘Getting it over with’, ‘The meaning of words’ and ‘Taking precautions’. The latter ‘Maintaining control’ concerned how patients in different ways managed to maintain control over their situation and was described in terms of ‘Being informed’, ‘Others are in the same “boat”’ and ‘Being proactive’. The study concludes that nervousness and anxiety are expressed differently in patients undergoing gastroscopy and that patients have individual ways of claiming their right to elements of control over the situation and the course of gastroscopy. In order for nursing in endoscopy settings to be tailored to the individual patient, it must be adapted to the individual patient’s ways of managing nervousness and anxiety as well as ways of claiming control. Keywords: anxiety, control, endoscopy out-patient, expec- tations, nervousness, nursing, patients . Submitted 1 November 2012, Accepted 31 January 2013 Introduction This paper focuses on patients’ expectations and needs for nursing when undergoing gastroscopy in endoscopy facilities for short-term stay. Facilities for short-term stay comprise a variety of out- patient clinics, treatment and emergency units at hospi- tals in today’s healthcare setting (1–4). These units are often highly advanced technologically and characterized by time-limited encounters between patients and health- care professionals. Existing research (5–7) agrees on the importance of meeting patients’ expectations and needs to get through a procedure in the best and safest way possible. However, little attention has been paid to understanding what the best way possible is to the patients as well as the expecta- tions and needs patients have for treatment and care in the context of facilities for short-term stay. Background Gastroscopy is a diagnostic endoscopy procedure that visualizes the upper part of the gastrointestinal tract up Correspondence to: Karin Bundgaard, Department of Gastroenterology, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark. E-mail: karinmik@rm.dk 2013 The Authors Journal of Caring Sciences © 2013 Nordic College of Caring Science 1 doi: 10.1111/scs.12032