University of SaskatchewanHARVEST
  • Login
  • Submit Your Work
  • About
    • About HARVEST
    • Guidelines
    • Browse
      • All of HARVEST
      • Communities & Collections
      • By Issue Date
      • Authors
      • Titles
      • Subjects
      • This Collection
      • By Issue Date
      • Authors
      • Titles
      • Subjects
    • My Account
      • Login
      JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
      View Item 
      • HARVEST
      • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations
      • View Item
      • HARVEST
      • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations
      • View Item

      Exploring how patients await scheduled surgery: Implications for quality of life

      Thumbnail
      View/Open
      CARR-DISSERTATION.pdf (740.0Kb)
      Date
      2013-04-08
      Author
      Carr, Tracey
      Type
      Thesis
      Degree Level
      Doctoral
      Metadata
      Show full item record
      Abstract
      In this thesis, I explored the relationship between patient experience of wait time for consultation and scheduled surgery, type of illness (orthopaedic or cardiac), and descriptions of time using qualitative methodology. Thirty two patients awaiting orthopaedic or cardiac surgery were recruited by surgeons in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan during the period of September 2009 to November 2010. Those patients awaiting orthopaedic surgery were interviewed when the decision to treat was made and again at the midpoint of their waiting period. Cardiac surgery patients were interviewed after their angiography and consent to surgery, and again the day prior to surgery. Patients were asked about their perceptions of time while waiting, maximum acceptable wait time for consultation and surgery, and the effects of waiting. Interpretative phenomenology (1) was the method and data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis.Participant suffering, the meaningfulness given to the experience, and the agency participants felt they had over the waiting period determined the lived duration of time experience. Participants considered pain, mobility restriction, disease progression and lethality of condition to be the primary determinants of wait time maximums. Waiting effects included restriction, uncertainty, resignation, coping with waiting, and opportunity. Few subtle differences between groups emerged indicating other variables may be more relevant to the quality of waiting experience. Participant suggestions for improving experience consisted of managing patient conditions and navigating the system. The findings suggest uncertainty in illness impacts the quality of wait time experience. The study denotes the experience of waiting for scheduled surgery is complex and not necessarily a linear relationship between greater symptom severity and less tolerance for wait time.
      Degree
      Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
      Department
      Medicine
      Program
      Health Sciences
      Supervisor
      Teucher, Ulrich
      Committee
      Casson, Alan G.; Johnston, Geoff; Butler, Lorna; Hampton, Mary
      Copyright Date
      March 2013
      URI
      http://hdl.handle.net/10388/ETD-2013-03-938
      Subject
      patient experiences
      wait time
      scheduled surgery
      lived time
      interpretative phenomenological analysis
      Collections
      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations
      University of Saskatchewan

      University Library

      The University of Saskatchewan's main campus is situated on Treaty 6 Territory and the Homeland of the Métis.

      © University of Saskatchewan
      Contact Us | Disclaimer | Privacy