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.

Introduction: Vulnerable European Union citizens (vulnerable EU citizens) are those who come to Sweden from EU member states. In Sweden the term “vulnerable EU citizens” is associated with the word “beggars”, which in turn is associated with Roma people. By November 2015 the number of vulnerable EU citizens in Sweden was estimated to be 4 700. The majority of these were from Romania. Roma as citizens of an EU member state have the right to reside in EU countries in accordance with the EU’s freedom of movement rights concept for up to but no longer than three months. However, to obtain the right for residence after three months, proof of financial resources and health insurance are required. Lacking these resources, vulnerable EU citizens have subsequently lost their right for residence and therefore became undocumented. They often find themselves in the same situation as undocumented migrants from outside the EU, having poor health outcomes and limited access to health care. In my study I aim to explore access to health care for vulnerable EU citizens in Umeå, a city in eastern Sweden. Methods: A qualitative design methodology has been applied in this thesis. Those contacted for this study were; Doctors of the World, Health on Equal Terms, Staff for planning and control Västerbotten Region, University Hospital of Umeå and representatives of vulnerable EU citizens’ community from Romania in Umeå. Seven in-depth interviews were collected with professionals and volunteers from these organisation/institutions and members of vulnerable EU citizens’ community. Questions were asked about their experience and knowledge regarding access to health care for vulnerable EU citizens. Data was analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Three main categories and one final theme were developed during data analysis. The first category “Difficult to access health care for vulnerable EU citizens in Sweden without European Health Insurance” elaborates the dependence of vulnerable EU citizens’ access to health care on having health insurance, specifically European Health Insurance and National Health Insurance. It also describes what kind of access to health care vulnerable EU citizens have in Sweden. The second category “Decision about how much access to health care provide for vulnerable EU citizens lies on medical personnel” discusses the situation of health care personnel when they treat vulnerable EU citizens in hospitals. The third category “Organisations, Doctors of the World and Health on Equal Terms, mediate connection between vulnerable EU citizens and hospitals, so they can have their right to health fulfilled” elaborates about the role the organisation plays when vulnerable EU citizens are in need of health care. After grouping categories and looking at the data from more interpretive, abstracted higher level, the final theme was created “Lack of attention from the national and international levels to the situation of vulnerable EU citizens’ access to health care”. Conclusion: This study highlights the difficulty for vulnerable EU citizens to access health care in Umeå if they do not have European Health Insurance. Being treated as undocumented migrants is the only way they have access to emergency services. Health care personnel feel insecure when treating vulnerable EU citizens, because there are no clear guidelines when vulnerable EU citizens can be treated as undocumented migrants as well as what is included in the clause “the care that cannot wait”. Because of this situation, vulnerable EU citizens sometimes are not able to receive the medical help they need. Organisations, Doctors of the World and Health on Equal Terms, help to mediate the connection between vulnerable EU citizens and hospitals which helps them to access the health care and fulfille their right to health. Lack of attention from the national as well as international governments to this situation is found to be important factor influencing vulneralbe EU citizens’ access to health care