Indlæggelsestiden i forbindelse med kirurgi er blevet kortere. Der er meget lidt viden om, hvordan den umiddelbare postoperative periode forløber. Formålet med undersøgelsen har været at vurdere om korte hospitalsforløb hos patienter, der er opereret for forstørret prostata, bevirker at de pårørende overtager en del af plejen, at undersøge om der kommer en øget belastning på andre dele af sundhedsvæsenet, samt at få en viden om hvordan patienterne har det i de første uger efter operationen. Der er foretaget kvalitative interviews med ti hustruer. Til analyse af interviewene er brugt den fænomenologiske metode, beskrevet af Giorgi og Karlsson. På baggrund af disse interviews er der udarbejdet et spørgeskema, som er udsendt til alle hustruer, hvis ægtefælle i perioden november 2004 til maj 2005 er blevet prostataopereret. Resultaterne fra spørgeskemaundersøgelsen blev sat ind i en access database. Resultatet viser at den første postoperative periode er præget af mange vandladningsgener så som inkontinens, hyppige vandladninger, blødning og urinstop. Gener som også belaster hustruerne. Hustruerne følte sig usikre på om efterforløbet var normalt, og de manglede viden om, hvor de kunne henvende sig med problemer. / The length of stay at hospital after surgery has shortened. Little is known about the immediate post-surgery period. The aim of this study is to assess whether spouses have to take active care of their husbands and to assess if the burden of other part of the health service increases as a result of early discharge after prostatic surgery. Furthermore, the study intends to increase the knowledge about how patients experience the first postoperative weeks. Initially qualitative interviews were conducted with ten spouses. The Phenomological method described by Giorgi and Karlsson was used for analysing the interviews. Based on the experience of this, a questionnaire was prepared and sent to all spouses of patients who had undergone prostatic surgery between November 2004 and May 2005. The results of the questionnaires were put into an access database. The principal finding is that many patients during the first postoperative period experience various urinary problems such as incontinence, frequency, haematuria, and urinary retention. Problems which negatively impacted on the spouses. Furthermore, the spouses were uncertain whether it was common to experience these problems, and they did not know whom to contact when in need of support / <p>ISBN 91-7997-152-0</p>