Objective:
To uncover how the time is experienced by familiar caregivers in the hospital in the hospitalization of the child.
Methods:
Descriptive and exploratory research with qualitative approach, performed in the second half of 2010. It was developed in the Pediatric Unit of a hospital in southern Brazil, with 15 family caregivers. The data collection was performed by semi-structured interviews. The analysis of the data was done by the technique of content analysis.
Results:
It was verified that being part of the hospital world with the child, each family assigns different meanings to the time lived, perceiving it as good or bad, according to their experiences in this period.
Conclusion:
To know the good and the bad times experienced by families in the hospital can lead to nursing staff to reflect on their actions, indicating strategies to be adopted in order to allow that the time in the hospital to be productive and better lived.
Family; Hospitalized Child; Length of Stay; Nursing