AimTo evaluate healthcare professionals' perspectives on factors that lead to success in the implementation of strategies to strengthen evidence-based surgical nursing care.DesignA qualitative study design with focus group interviews, according to Krueger and Casey in a surgical department at a university hospital in Sweden.MethodsFour focus groups were conducted with 18 participants, including specialist nurses in surgical care, registered nurses and assistant nurses. Data were collected in February-March 2024. A semi-structured interview guide was used, and data were analysed using qualitative content analysis.ResultsThree themes with seven subthemes were developed to capture the evaluation of health care professionals' perspectives of the implementation strategies to strengthen evidence-based surgical nursing care. The themes were (1) Roles and leadership, (2) Engagement in the implementation, and (3) Facilitators and barriers to implementation. The implementation has meant the transition from theory to practice and integrating new routines into the surgical department. It was a learning process where the health care professionals needed to familiarise themselves with new concepts and working methods. The positive outcome of the project and support from the nursing leadership were important facilitators in the implementation process.ConclusionsThe implementation of new ways of working was a complex process with both resistance and learning, but it ultimately led to positive changes in the surgical care environment.Implications for the Profession and ImpactThe project has entailed that specialist nurses in surgical care have increased nursing power in the department and extended responsibilities. Support from the head of the department and the management team has been crucial to being able to carry out the project, and the implementation of activities in small steps has been successful.Reporting MethodAdhered to the SRQR guidelines.Patient or Public ContributionNo patient or public contribution.

Purpose: The lived experience of women undergoing axillary procedures as part of their breast cancer (BC) treatment remains unexplored. This lack of in-depth understanding could hamper implementation of person-centred care, which is concerning because BC is the most common form of cancer in women. The aim of this study was therefore to explore the lived experiences of women undergoing axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) due to BC.

Methods: Twelve women with a mean age of 59 years were interviewed about their lived experiences of axillary procedures as part of their BC treatment. The interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using a phenomenological hermeneutical method. This narrative method enabled the researchers to reinterpret the worlds of the women with BC, as reflected in the data.

Results: The naïve understanding, ie, the meaning of the text as a whole, revealed that the participants were in a process of accepting and adapting to their life after ALND involving adjuvant chemotherapy and/or hormonal therapy. Thus, six main themes emerged in the thematic structural analysis illustrating the meaning of acceptance and adaptation when suffering from BC and undergoing a treatment trajectory, ie, establishing coherence, adjusting to treatment, safeguarding social belonging, re-defining oneself, feeling vulnerable, and accepting one’s circumstances.

Conclusions: If healthcare professionals provided structure and consistency, the women’s treatment and lived experiences made sense; the women experienced more certainty, freedom, and meaningful social interactions. Uncertainty occurred when the women became lost in their own sense-making process, leading to low self-efficacy. There is a need for a paradigm shift in surgical care from viewing women with BC as anatomical constructions in need of repair to deeply understanding that they are persons with an illness who require ongoing self-management support.

Aim: To describe nurses’ and specialist nurses’ experiences of moral distress and howit affects daily work in surgical care.

Design: A qualitative descriptive study design was used.

Methods: A qualitative study with 12 interviews with nurses and specialist nursesworking in surgical care. All interviews were conducted during October and November2022 in two hospitals in southeastern Sweden. Data were analysed using conven-tional qualitative content analysis.

Findings: Three categories and seven subcategories generated from the data analysis.The three categories generated from the analysis were Experiences that lead to moraldistress, Perceived consequences of moral distress and Strategies in case of moral distress.The results show that a lack of personnel in combination with people with complexsurgical needs is the main source of moral distress. Both high demands on nurses asindividuals and the teamwork are factors that generate moral distress and can havesevere consequences for the safety of patients, individual nurses and future care.

Conclusions: The results show that moral distress is a problem for today's nurses andspecialist nurses in surgical care. Action is necessary to prevent nurses from leav-ing surgical care. Prioritizing tasks is perceived as challenging for the profession, andmoral distress can pose a patient safety risk.

Impact: Surgical care departments should design support structures for nurses, givenurses an authentic voice to express ethical concerns and allow them to practice sur-gical nursing in a way that does not violate their core professional values. Healthcareorganizations should take this seriously and work strategically to make the nursingprofession more attractive.

Patient or Public Contribution: There was no patient or public contribution.

AimThis study investigated healthcare professionals attitudes and perceptions towards the familys participation in surgical cancer care. DesignA prospective mixed method study. MethodsThe study was conducted at three hospitals in Sweden with registered nurses, assistant nurses and surgeons. Data included 43 completed Families Importance in Nursing Care (FINC-NA) questionnaires answered by registered nurses and qualitative data from 14 interviews with surgeons and assistant nurses. Data analysis was performed according to the Creswell convergent parallel mixed method. ResultsBoth quantitative and qualitative data demonstrated that the family was an important resource in nursing care, was highly valued as a conversational partner and had resources that should be considered. Each family should be supported in determining their role and as implements for maintaining a functioning family constellation and increasing their participation. Patient or Public ContributionNo patient or public contribution.

Obesity and its concomitant comorbidities have a myriad of detrimental effects on health, fertility, and quality of life. Bariatric surgery is an effective treatment for inducing weight loss and reduction of obesity-related comorbidities including subfertility. The aim of this study was to explore the expectations and experiences of women with a desire to have children as a motivation for undergoing bariatric surgery. An inductive qualitative design was used. Fourteen women were interviewed, and transcriptions were analysed with thematic analysis. Two themes emerged: (i) Motherhood and Femininity and (ii) A Normal Life. Participants found no other solution than to seek bariatric surgery to be able to become pregnant and carry a child to term. Coping physically with pregnancy and being an active mother were important factors. Overall, postoperative expectations were met, and the women experienced the effects of normalised sex hormone levels, were more physically mobile, and were released from the previous social hindrances that obesity caused them. This study has clinical implications for providing support and information to women with subfertility considering bariatric surgery and to better understand their experiences of life after bariatric surgery.

BACKGROUND: Total pancreatectomy (TP) is a major surgical procedure that involves lifelong exocrine and endocrine pancreatic insufficiency. Qualitative evidence is sparse regarding patients' experiences after the operation. The aim of this study was to explore patients' experiences of symptoms that occur after TP and how these symptoms affect their health and life situations.

METHODS: A qualitative design with prospective consecutive sampling and an inductive thematic analysis was used. Semistructured interviews were postoperatively performed at 6-9 months with 20 patients undergoing TP in two university hospitals in Sweden.

RESULTS: Two main themes emerged from the analysis: "Changes in everyday life" and "Psychological journey". Patients experienced symptoms related to diabetes as the major life change after the operation, and they were also limited by symptoms of exocrine insufficiency, difficulties with food intake and physical weakness. In the psychological journey that patients underwent, the support received from family, friends and the health care system was important. Moreover, patients experienced a general need for more extensive information, especially regarding diabetes.

CONCLUSION: Patients experience a lack of sufficient support and education after TP, particularly concerning their diabetes. Further efforts should be undertaken to improve information and the organization of diabetes care for this patient group.

AIM: The aim of the study was to explore the work conditions that influence the opportunities for professional development of specialist nurses in surgical care.

DESIGN: A qualitative descriptive design was used.

METHODS: With a purposeful sampling procedure, 14 specialist nurses in surgical care were included. Four focus-group interviews were conducted during November to December 2021 and deductively analysed using the Job Demand-Resource theory as a guiding framework. Reporting adheres to COREQ guidelines.

FINDINGS: Work conditions that were identified as job demands and that inhibited nurses' opportunities for professional development were mainly found at an organizational and leadership level. Primarily, those conditions included role ambiguity and time constraints caused by uncompensated nursing shortages that restricted the nurses from exercising their role. Such conditions could also discourage other nurses from further education. Job demands were seen as largely compensated for by work conditions identified as job resources and located mainly at an individual level, for example finding the work interesting and multifaceted. Most prominent was the participants' inner motivation to work with surgical patients and to continue to develop themselves and other nurses professionally.

CONCLUSIONS: A prerequisite for professional development is that the specialist role is clearly defined in collaboration with representatives from the nursing profession and universities. Hence, hospital organizations need to reflect on how to utilize the competence. Also, it is important that nurse leaders promote the specialist nurses' motivation by supporting them in the exercise of their role.

IMPACT: Findings from this study revealed work conditions that need to be acknowledged during hospital organizations' endeavours to maintain and enhance nursing competence.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: Patient or public contribution was not applicable since the study focused on specialist nurses' working conditions.

Objective Fast-track concepts have been implemented in hepatopancreatobiliary surgery cancer care to improve postoperative recovery. For optimal postoperative care, patient participation is also required. The aim was to investigate and analyse whether an intervention with patient-owned fast-track protocols (PFTPs) may lead to increased patient participation and improve information for patients who underwent surgery for hepatopancreatobiliary cancer. Methods A quantitative comparative design with a control and intervention group was used. The participants in the intervention group followed a PFTP during their admission. After discharge, the patients answered a questionnaire regarding patient participation. Data analyses were performed with descriptive statistics and ANCOVA. Results The results are based on a total of 222 completed questionnaires: 116 in the control group and 106 in the intervention group. It is uncertain whether the PFTP increased patient participation and information, but its use may indicate an improvement for the patient group. Conclusion A successful implementation strategy for the use of PFTP, with daily reconciliations, could be part of the work required to improve overall satisfaction with patient participation.

The study aimed to describe and analyse patient-reported recovery in patients after upper abdominal cancer surgery. This study had a quantitative design and patients were consecutively included in a university hospital in southern Sweden. Twenty-four patients answered the Postoperative Recovery Profile (PRP) questionnaire at three measurement points. All five dimensions were affected. In the physical symptoms dimension, the majority of patients reported a lack of energy upon discharge. High levels of anxiety were reported. Over 50% of patients reported some degree of depressed mood at all three measurement points. In the social dimension, the majority of patients reported some degree of being dependent on help from others in everyday life at 4?weeks after discharge. Few patients are fully recovered at 4?weeks after discharge. Individual patient-reported recovery estimates may be valuable in identifying and planning interventions tailored to each patients needs throughout the care process.

Objective

In the present study, we aimed to assess sense of coherence (SOC) and health‐related quality of life (HRQOL) during and after adjuvant chemotherapy by mobile phone‐based reporting in patients with colorectal cancer experiencing neurotoxicity.

Methods

In this prospective descriptive cohort study, a mobile phone‐based system was used to receive a series of real‐time longitudinal patient‐reported assessments of SOC (13‐item), HRQOL (Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy‐General (FACT‐G) 27‐item), and neurotoxicity (OANQ 29‐item) from 43 patients with colorectal cancer after being treated with chemotherapy including oxaliplatin. Measurements were conducted during the whole treatment period (mean 5 cycles) and up to 12 months after completing chemotherapy.

Results

In total, 817 questionnaire responses (226 SOC, 221 FACT‐G, 370 OANQ) answered during and after chemotherapy treatment were available for analysis. Even though all patients experienced neurotoxicity during the treatment period, HRQOL was stable over time. Over time, the ratings of physical wellbeing tended to increase, while the subscale of social wellbeing tended to decrease. Overall SOC, including the three components comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness was stable during the entire study period. No internal data was missing due to the mobile phone‐based system.

Conclusions

All patients had neurotoxicity during the treatment period that seemed to affect the social wellbeing component of HRQOL, but SOC seemed unaffected. Real‐time patient‐reported assessment using mobile phone technology could be valuable in the clinical setting to provide continuous individualised monitoring to help identify patients who need further evaluation to maintain or improve their psychosocial health.