Colonised and isolated: A phenomenological exploration of source isolation in patients infected with multi-drug resistant organisms

Abstract

This study explored and interpreted the experience of the phenomenon of source isolation as lived by patients infected with multi-drug resistant organisms, within an Australian setting. The isolation of patients with transmissible diseases is a requirement in hospitals considering the risk of infecting other patients, staff and visitors (Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, 2017). However, there is a lack of formal studies conducted at a level which enable a deeper understanding of how these patients feel when source isolated.To address the gaps identified in a review of literature and also to answer the question set for this study; Heideggerian philosophical ideas (Heidegger, 1962) and van Manen’s work (1990) were utilised to structure the methodology and method under which this study was undertaken. The study recruited 20 participants from two New South Wales major hospitals with whom in-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted. Their data was analysed and subsequently interpreted drawing insights from relevant phenomenological notions. From this process, three central findings which described the experience of the phenomenon of source isolation emerged. Living in a changed space revealed the participants’ struggle to cope with being physically confined to a room, which made them feel as though they were in prison. Living in a changed body emerged from the participants who perceived their bodies as changed because of the presence of bacteria that conventional medicine could not kill off permanently. Striving to survive uncovered some of the participants’ means of enduring through some of their unfavourable experiences. From these findings, the perceived lack of care by the healthcare workers for the source isolated patients, motivated me to interview the nurses who provided care to these patients as another Horizon of understanding to the topic. I became eager to find out whether the nurses had an awareness of what their patients experienced when source isolated. The findings uncovered that most of the 17 nurse participants who were recruited and interviewed were aware of the experiences their source isolated patients were going through. However, they could not admit direct responsibility; instead, they highlighted administration issues and shortages of staff as some of the causes of these patients’ distressing experiences. Overally, the essence of the lived experience of the phenomenon of source isolation from the perspectives of patients infected with multi-drug resistant organisms emerged as Being-in-a-changed-world.