Tactile Massage as Part of the Caring Act: A Qualitative Study in Short-Term Emergency Wards.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to illuminate the nursing staff's lived experiences and meaning in giving tactile massage (TM) while caring for patients in short-term emergency ward. METHOD Data were collected through individual qualitative interviews with six nurses and eight assistant nurses working with TM in short-term emergency wards in two hospitals in Sweden. The narratives were analyzed using a phenomenological hermeneutical method. FINDINGS Nurses experienced providing TM to patients as a present awareness in connection with compassion for the patient. TM provided the nurses with a tool to ease patient suffering and pain. Three dimensions were found where touch became a tool of doing, was an aware presence as a mindful being, and was embodied in a human-to-human connection with a changed caregiver. CONCLUSION Given the current high-tech health care system with overcrowded units and a shortage of nursing staff, TM could be included as a caring tool to improve the caring in caregiving, allowing nurses to act in aware presence by touch to encourage health and well-being for both the patient and themselves.