Patients' Perception of Comfort Facilitators During Hemodialysis Procedure: A Qualitative Study

BACKGROUND: The patients receiving hemodialysis spend a lot of their lifetime in the hemodialysis departments, which is an unpleasant experience. Therefore, some interventions are necessary to relieve this experience. OBJECTIVES: The current study aimed to explore the hemodialysis patients' perceptions of comfort facilitators during the hemodialysis procedure. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This study was conducted by a qualitative content analysis approach. Twenty four patients receiving hemodialysis participated in this study by purposive sampling. The sampling was over when the data saturation occurred. The semi-structured interviews were applied as the main data gathering tool. The data analysis was conducted by conventional qualitative content analysis in eight phases. RESULTS: Three themes emerged: The presence of competent nurses, the delightful presence of the others, and coping with comfort obstacles. Each theme consisted of some categories. CONCLUSIONS: It seems that to achieve the patients' comfort during the hemodialysis procedure, the health care teams, hospitals in charge and the patients themselves have to do their best to provide the patients' comfort.