The meaning of hospital care, as narrated by elderly patients with chronicheart failure

Chronic heart failure is the most common reason for hospitalization among t he elderly in western societies. To elucidate the meaning of the experience of care received in the hospital, as narrated by 12 elderly patients with severe chronic heart failure, interviews were analyzed by an approach inspi red by Ricoeur's phenomenologic hermeneutics. The analysis revealed that th e study respondents experienced the care as "unpredictable." This essential theme captured the divergent descriptions of 2 subthemes: care was either "confident but incomprehensible" or "nonconfident and incomprehensible." Wh en the patients sought care, it was as though they were launching themselve s into the unknown because they knew that many experiences would be unpredi ctable. Despite experiences of indifferent and unpredictable care, the narr atives revealed a need to rely on the caregivers' expertise.