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Background: Patients hospitalised as a result of either sudden illness or injury become needy individuals who, as a consequence of the reason for'their admission, have the potential to challenge the nursing team in relation to their care management. There is a need for nurses to understand the experience from the patient's perspective to enable effective delivery of relevant care management which will address the need~ of this patient group. Purpose: The purpose of this research was to (a) further '. elucidate the experiences of emergency surgical patients and (b) fonnulate ~- a systematic logical and explanatory theory of how these patients dealt with the consequences of the abrupt incident. Methods: This study utilised Glaserian principles and techniques to elicit and analyse data from 30 emergency surgical patients. Results: The theory of re-normalising after an abrupt life disruption illuminates a three-phase process. Immediately following the critical juncture of disruption to their established lifestyle, the patients are in an initial phase whereby they experience the effects of disruption in tenns of experiencing loss, distress and personal powerlessness. Having progressed through this distressing phase, they begin to reji-ame their expectation oftheir future by a process of reflection, recognition and rationalising the events and its consequences. This led into the final phase of defining the new normal for themselves by means of anticipating, visualising and adjusting which culminated in re-normalising. Conclusions: The theory allows discovery of a process which is not readily recognisable in the present trauma care management structure. Whilst paramount attention is required to address the physiological aspects of the trauma patient, the psychosocial aspects of care management need to be addressed to empower and enable the patient to effectively re-nonnalise.