Table 1.

Interview schedule

I am interested in the specific aspects of compassionate nursing care you have received during your stay in hospital this time and how you feel it has been

1. Please can I start by asking you a general question about what you feel compassionate nursing care means to you?

2. Please would you describe a situation, if there has been one, when you feel you have experienced compassionate care during your stay in hospital this time?

What was happening at the time?

What exactly was said by the nurse?

What exactly was the nurse doing, e.g. standing, walking away?

What else was happening on the ward?

Please will you tell me how that felt?

3. Please would you describe a situation, if there has been one, when you felt compassionate nursing care was missing during your stay?

What was happening at the time?

What exactly was said by the nurse?

What exactly was the nurse doing, e.g. standing, walking away

What else was happening on the ward?

Please will you tell me how that felt?

4. In what ways do you think compassionate nursing care could be improved?

5. What can you tell me, if anything, about what you think prevents nurses from delivering compassionate care?

6. In what ways, if any, do you think it makes a difference if the nursing care you receive is compassionate?

How does it make you feel?

Why do you think it makes a difference?

7. What can you tell me, if anything, that you think would help nurses to be more compassionate in the care they give? What do you think this would make an improvement?

How do you think this may be achieved?

8. What else, if anything, you would like to tell me or comment on with regard to compassionate nursing care?