Perception of feeling safe perioperatively: a concept analysis

ABSTRACT

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to explore the concept of feeling safe, from the patient perspective, in a perioperative context.

Method

The eight-step concept analysis approach proposed by Walker and Avant was utilized to examine the attributes of feeling safe. Uses of the concept, defining attributes as well as antecedents, consequences and empirical referents are presented to describe the concept. Case examples are provided in order to assist the understanding of the defining attributes.

Results

Feeling safe is defined as: a person that does not feel worried or threatened. Three attributes were identified: Participation, Control and Presence. Knowledge and Relationship are the antecedents of feeling safe, while Feeling Acknowledged and Trust are the consequences. Empirical referents are explored in order to find a way to measuring the perceived feeling of safety.

Conclusion

This concept analysis underscores the importance of including patients’ perceptions in traditional patient safety work. Patients who feel safe perceive that they participate in their care, that they are in control, and that they feel the presence of both healthcare staff and relatives. The perceived feeling of security could, by extension, promote the postoperative recovery of patients undergoing surgery by positively affect the process of recovery.

KEYWORDS:

• Feeling safe
• perioperative
• concept analysis
• nursing
• literature review

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Author contributions

All authors have agreed on the final version and met at least one of the following criteria recommended by the ICMJE (http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/): Substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data or analysis and interpretation of data; drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content.

Data accessibility statement

The datasets generated and analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sector.

Notes on contributors

Fanny Larsson

Fanny Larsson is a RN, Nurse Anesthetist and a Ph.D. student in nursing at the Division of Nursing and Medical Technology, Department of Health, Education and Technology at the Luleå University of Technology. She has several years of experience of working as a nurse and a nurse anesthetist. Her research for her thesis is about postoperative recovery and the feeling of safety for patients who have undergone orthopedic day surgery.

Ulrica Strömbäck

Ulrica Strömbäck is an anesthesia and intensive and critical care nurse and assistant professor in nursing at the Division of Nursing and Medical Technology, Department of Health, Education and Technology at the Luleå University of Technology. Her research profile includes cardiology, intensive and critical care, anesthesia care with a focus on people´s experience. She also conducts research within pedagogy related to nursing students learning.

Silje Rysst Gustafsson

Silje Rysst Gustafsson is a district nurse and an assistant professor in nursing at the Division of Nursing and Medical Technology, Department of Health, Education and Technology at the Luleå University of Technology. She earned her PhD degree in Nursing Sciences in 2016. Her research profile include primary care, telephone nursing, self-care, children’s health, and parental support, and she is involved in several research projects in a variety of contexts. In addition to her research work, she serves as the educational leader for the Bachelor program in nursing sciences at Luleå university of technology

Åsa Engström

Åsa Engström is chaired professor in nursing at the Division of Nursing and Medical Technology, Department of Health, Education and Technology at the Luleå University of Technology. She is an intensive and critical care nurse. She is also the vice chairman of the Swedish Nursing Association. Åsa Engström’s research is foremost about phenomenon concepts related to suffering from acute illness, undergoing surgery and how this affects life afterwards. Her research is also about the nature and how it can increase our health and well-being.