Belongings Within Reach

The image represents a patient’s bedside table, covered with ECG tracings, a “Getting Ready for Heart Surgery” booklet, a “Get Well Soon” card, and personal items. For anyone familiar with the hospital environment, the bedside table becomes the patient’s anchor. While on bedrest, all essential belongings should be on this table and within reach. When nurses enter the room, we often rearrange items, clear empty cups or meal trays, organize supplies, and use photos, cards, or special trinkets as conversation starters. The state of a patient’s bedside table can reflect how they’re feeling on the inside: messy and chaotic, neat and organized, or somewhere in between. My proposed thesis will use qualitative interviews to explore patients’ experiences of uncertainty while waiting in the hospital for unexpected cardiac surgery. This study aims to amplify patient voices and integrate arts-based research methods into cardiac nursing practice. The illustration of the bedside table represents my research, as it is something both nurses and patients rely on during a hospital stay. At times, it acts as a bridge between what the patient is experiencing internally and how the nurse can respond to their needs and provide appropriate care. (pencil, pencil crayon, crayons, markers, paper)