Being inconspicuous in the dark outdoors can cause accidents including physical injuries. To prevent pedestrian being involved in accidents it is necessary to make them most visible to approaching people.This Master’s Thesis examines the use of retroreflective clothing in a semi-dark urban environment to provide safety through conspicuity. Through analysing the lighting situation in Stockholm, the ability of the human vision, reactions and existing products it has led to experiments and surveys to find the most efficient line placement and pattern to make an individual recognizable as human on approach.The results were that body outlines and horizontal lines along joints made a human most identifiable. Most conspicuity was given when lines were wider than 2cm and patterns contrasted to the surroundings.As the experiment was conducted in a semi-dark setting, different retroreflective design solutions might be more adequate for other lighting scenarios with more or less light

Bakgrund: Pandemin orsakad av Covid-19 har tvingat intensivvården till stora omställningar. Som del av restriktioner för att reducera risk för smittspridning måste skyddsutrustning användas vid patientkontakt med smittad patient. Användandet av skyddsutrustning har introducerat tankar på hur den vårdande relationen mellan patient och intensivvårdssjuksköterska påverkats.  Syfte: Syftet med studien var att belysa intensivvårdssjuksköterskans upplevelse av hur arbetet i skyddsutrustning under pågående pandemi påverkat den vårdande relationen med patienten. Metod: Semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med sex intensivvårdssjuksköterskor. Intervjuerna låg vidare till grund för analys enligt tolkande fenomenologisk analys (IPA).  Resultat: Fyra överordnade teman framträdde ur analysen. I temat fokus på kommunikation framkom olika sätt skyddsutrustningen påverkat kommunikationen. Upplevelsen av avskärmning framkom i temat fokus på distans där närhet uttrycktes som avgörande för en vårdande relation. I temat fokus på lidande beskrevs hur skyddsutrustningen inverkat på lindrande beröring men också att den kan orsaka lidande. Känslor av otillräcklighet i den vårdande relation och maktlöshet inför att inte förmå förändra eller påverka framkom i temat fokus på känslor.  Slutsats: Skyddsutrustningen påverkar den vårdande relationen. Skyddsutrustningen reducerar möjligheten till etablering av vårdande relation vilket riskerar minska patientens möjlighet till delaktighet. Behov föreligger av ytterligare forskning om påverkan med fokus på prevention. Ett organisatoriskt medvetande om skyddsutrustningen inverkan på den vårdande relationen kan ligga till grund för interventioner ämnade att reducera dess negativa påverkan. / Background: The pandemic caused by COVID-19 has forced the intensive care to make several adjustments. As part of restrictions to prevent spread of infection personal protective equipment (PPE) has to be used when in contact with infected patients. The use of PPE has introduced questions of its impact on the caring relationship between the patient and intensive care nurse.  Aim: The aim with this study was to illustrate the intensive care nurses experience of how working in PPE during the pandemic has affected the caring relationship with the patient.  Method: Semi- structured interviews was conducted with six intensive care nurses. The interviews served as data for an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA).  Results: Four superior themes emerged from the analysis. In the theme focus on communication emerged different way of which the PPE has affected communication. The experience of being shielded emerged in the theme focus on distance where closeness was expressed as essential. In the theme focus on suffering was the PPE´s impact on touch described and also its potential cause of suffering. Emotions of inadequacy in regards to the caring relationship and powerlessness in regards of not being able to change or affect emerged in the theme focus on emotions.  Conclusion: The caring relationship has been affected by the use of PPE. PPE reduces the possibility of establishing a caring relationship which endangers the patient’s active participation. There is need for further research about affect with focus on prevention. An organizational awareness regarding PPE´s effect on the caring relationship could lay the foundation for interventions supposed to reduce its negative impact.