The Effect of Patient-centred Care Competence of Palliative Care Nurses on Quality of Care

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the effect of patient-centered care competence of palliative care nurses on the quality of care. Methods: The descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted between June and August 2023 in health institutions affiliated to Izmir Provincial Health Directorate. The study was conducted with 130 nurses actively working in palliative care units of health institutions. Data were collected using “Personal Information Form”, “Patient-centered Care Competency Scale” and “Palliative Nursing Care Quality Scale”. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data and Pearson correlation coefficient was used to evaluate the relationship between quantitative variables. Results: The mean age of the nurses participating in the study was 36.69±7.5 years and 94.6% of them were female. The mean total scores of the nurses on the Patient-centered Care Competency Scale were 4.02±1.04; the mean scores for the sub-dimensions of respecting patient perspectives, promoting patient involvement in care processes, providing for patient comfort and advocating for patients were 4.01±1.05, 4.01±1.05, 4.08±1.11 and 3.98±1.08, respectively; and the mean total score on the Palliative Nursing Care Quality Scale was 74.80±11.98. In the study, a positive moderate statistically significant relationship was found between the mean total scores of the Patient-centered Care Competency Scale and the Palliative Nursing Care Quality Scale (r=0.319; p<0.001). Conclusion: In this study, it was determined that palliative care nurses’ Patient-centered Care Competencies and the quality of palliative care services they provide are at a high level, and it was shown that Patient-centered Care Competencies have an effect on palliative care quality.

Keywords

• palliative care
• patient-centered care competency
• quality of care
• health management