Title. To care on equal terms – Registered nurses experiences of duty in an international military operation.

Aim. To describe registered nurses experience of providing patient care on equal terms in a Swedish international military operation.

Background. Reg. nurses provide care to a variety of patients during an international military operation. Those patients may be civilians as well as military. Among them may be friends, allies or enemies. According to Swedish and international law all patients has the right to recieve medical care. The number of reg. nurses who will participate in international military operations will increase, yet there are few studies about experiences of providing care on equal terms to patients in this setting.

Method. A qualitative study based on interviews was used. Nine Swedish reg. nurses were interviewed. The data was analysed using a qualitative content analysis.

Findings. Three themes emerged. Feelings in nursing, conditions in nursing and ambitions in nursing. Reg. nurses describe different feelings such as frustration and anger. The conditions reg. nurses have to work in are often dangerous and with limited resources. Reg. nurses have an ambition to provide care on equal terms but find it difficult to do so.

Conclusion. Reg. nurses describe that it is difficult to provide care on equal terms. Patients are not always provided equal care. The ambition is to give patients care on equal terms, but in a situation when a choice has to be made, reg. nurses tend to care for friends first.