Elderly patients’ perception of compassionate care provided by nurses in Beni-Suef city

M Abozied, Aziza; M.Ibrahim Ghazy, Eman; Mohamed El Mahgawery Eldeeb, Abeer

doi:10.21608/ejhc.2020.133914

Elderly patients’ perception of compassionate care provided by nurses in Beni-Suef city

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Lecturer in Community Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Beni-Suef University, Egypt.

² B, Sc. N. Alexandia University, Egypt.

³ Assistant Prof. in Family &Community Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Damietta University, Egypt.

10.21608/ejhc.2020.133914

Abstract

Background: Compassion is thus considered fundamental in caring for patients,
especially the elderly. However, healthcare providers still have difficulties in the
provision of such care. Aim of study: to measure elderly patients’ perception of
compassionate care provided by nurses in Beni-Suef city. Subjects and methods:
This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out at Beni-Suef University
Hospital, General Hospital, and Continuing/Long-term care and Home Health Care
(HHC) services in Beni-Suef on 140 elderly receiving care in the setting for at least
3 days. An interview questionnaire form including the Compassionate Care Scale
and the Opinions about Compassionate Care scale. The fieldwork lasted from
January to June 2019. Results: Patients’ age ranged between 60 and 88 years,
median 65 years, 52.9% females (52.9%), mostly illiterate (77.9%), and having
chronic diseases (87.9%). The majority had high opinions about compassionate
care (82.9%). Regarding priorities of compassionate care, “understanding your
problem” ranked first, while “no prejudice” ranked last. In multivariate analysis,
patient education level and length of hospital stay were significant independent
negative predictors of their compassionate care score. Conclusion and
recommendations: The elderly patients in the study settings tend to have high
perception and opinions regarding compassionate care, and this is influenced by
their education, and the length of hospital stay. The study recommends that elderly
patients’ opinions about the nursing care regarding compassionate care be regularly
surveyed. Further research is suggested to evaluate the impact of training
interventions for nurses on elderly patients’ opinions about compassionate care.

Keywords