A chronic disease means having to manage challenges in everyday life while striving day-in, day-out to manage one’s health and care regimen.

Patients with chronic disease and their nurses have long been convinced that scheduled time with the nurse allows the patient to work out what is important for them and to find ways to adapt and manage their lives with chronic disease.

In this pilot and feasibility study by Jyette Graarup and Ida Elisabeth Højskov, the results show that scheduled patient-centred nurse consultations make sense for the patients. Patients found the interventions to be both meaningful and useful in managing their lives with their chronic disease.

The study took place with people with advanced lung and heart failure. As an answer to requests by patients to avail of a space of freedom, nursing consultations were set up. This necessitated planning for and providing scheduled time with the nurse.
The consultations were patient-centred, based on the framework outlined by Rosemarie Parse. The nurses used open-ended questions allowing the patients to reflect on and define their health and experiences. The scheduled time with the nurse was described by patients as a confidential moment to deal with their disease and its challenges and to find a new normality in everyday life.

You can read the full study here.