Poster can be found in location 81.

Background: Life-threateningly ill or injured persons are cared for in hospitals’ emergency rooms. In these rooms the time-critical event and biomedical focus may reinforce a culture that value the medical-technical aspect of nursing. To meet patients fundamental care needs, such as respect, information and toileting in a person-centred way seems challenging. Little is known about how person-centred care is visible and valued by vulnerable and exposed patients in emergency rooms. Methods: Individual interviews with 15 patients who had been life-threateningly ill and cared for in an emergency room at a university hospital in Sweden. The transcribed interviews were analyzed with deductive content analysis based on The Fundamentals of Care Framework, which is constituted of three interrelated dimensions: relationship, integration of care, and context of care. Results: Despite being life-threateningly ill, patients were still able to describe their unique needs—and these were not only related to medical care. Relationship, timely and personalized information, and existential needs were identified as essential fundamental care needs, which were not, or only partly met. Patients preferred personalized care but described the nursing care as task-oriented. Despite being life-threateningly ill, patients adapted to the patient role to avoid burdening the registered nurses. Conclusion: Patients described experiences related to the three dimensions of fundamental care – relationship, integration of care and context of care. Fundamental care needs were not always met, which might lead to complications and suffering. Such needs should be met in a person-centred way and be supported by nursing leadership and guidelines. The finding highlights the need to prioritize fundamental care also for life-threateningly ill or injured patients, which in turn calls for focus on organizational prerequisites to enable person-centred care. This knowledge can be used in emergency care settings to facilitate person-centred fundamental care, avoiding missed nursing care.