The silent demand in the diagnostic phase.

Patients' experience of going through the diagnostic phase in hospital is apt to be overlooked by nurses and physicians; most of their inner preparative work for receiving the diagnosis is hidden because of the vulnerability of the situation. This paper discusses findings from a grounded theory study, of 18 in-depth interviews of 15 patients going through medical investigation at a gastric ward in a Norwegian university hospital. The interviews were conducted in 2002-2003.