Abstract

GUERRERO PORTILLO, Sandra; MONTOYA-JUAREZ, Rafael  and  HUESO-MONTORO, César. Nurses serious illness experience: a qualitative study based on biographical stories. Index Enferm [online]. 2014, vol.23, n.1-2, pp.56-60. ISSN 1699-5988.  https://dx.doi.org/10.4321/S1132-12962014000100012.

Scientific literature has focused on the influence of some factors such as age or gender in suffering. Little attention has been paid to how profession affects to suffering and, specifically, how health professionals experience serious illness. Aim: To examine the influence of being a nurse in serious illness experience. Methods: Qualitative study based on the secondary analysis of 11 biographical stories published in the documentary repository "Archives of Memory" of the Index Foundation between 2004 and 2011. Results: Nurses suffer an identity conflict marked by a dual role, as they are patient and health professionals at the same time. As a result of this conflict, nurses feel rejected by other patients, because it seem that they receive some privileges that do not always enjoy, and, in turn, are stigmatized by their colleagues, for the fact of being sick.

Keywords : Qualitative research; Illness; Experience; Nurses; Nurse Practice; Chronic Illness.