Caring relationship: the core component of patients’ rights practice as experienced by patients and their companions

The aim of this article is to describe how Iranian patients and their companions explain their lived experiences with caring relationships in a central teaching hospital in Tehran, Iran. Despite a large number of theoretical articles on this topic, the meaning of caring is still ambiguous, particularly in specific cultures. In Iran, there is not enough qualitative evidence on this topic to indicate what patients actually mean when they refer to caring relationship. This article explores how Iranian patients and their companions perceive and describe caring relationships as an element of patients’ rights practice. This is part of a phenomenological research on patients’ rights practice in Iran conducted during 2003–2006. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 patients/companions, and van Mannen’s approach was used for thematic analysis. The ethics committee of Tehran University of Medical Sciences approved the study. Patient-centered care, compassion, effective communication, support/advocacy, informed participation and meeting patients’ basic needs were found to be the key elements in defining caring relationships. These themes were all described as elements of patients’ rights practice issues. The results indicated that it is necessary for care givers/nurses to understand the person who will receive care in order to provide zealous and authentic care, because feeling “to be cared for” is even more important than providing the “care” itself.