Assessment of Nurses' Caring Behaviors from the Perspective of Covid-19 Patients

Caring behaviors are an important focus of nurses' physical and technical aspects of caring. By identifying and comprehending the nurses' caring behaviors from the perspective of the patients, as well as taking into account the elements influencing caring behaviors during the Covid-19 pandemic, we may plan to offer nursing care and caring behaviors based on the needs of the patients. In this cross-sectional study, purposive sampling was used to collect data from both the Demographic Questionnaire and the Nurses' Caring Behavior Questionnaire. The results showed that the respectful relationship field had an average score of 33.57, the professional knowledge and skill field at 15.35, and the overall mean score for the questionnaire was 43.92, with the mean score from the questionnaire being higher than the real mean score. It may be concluded that this component of nurses' behavior is seen favorably by patients in the Covid-19 ward. Additionally, the patients in the Covid-19 ward thought the mean score from the questionnaire on professional knowledge and skills was good because it was higher than the real mean score. The questionnaire's overall score was likewise greater than its mean overall score. Overall, it can be concluded that patients in the Covid-19 ward have a positive opinion of the nurses' level of caring behaviors. These results indicate that it is possible to achieve ideal caring and full patient satisfaction by planning and considering future outlook in order to educate and empower nurses in terms of correct caring behaviors, and to provide quality caretaking.

Telemedicine and Telehealth in Urology-What Do the 'Patients' Think About It?

Telemedicine is the delivery of healthcare to patients who are not in the same location as the physician. The practice of telemedicine has a large number of advantages, including cost savings, low chances of nosocomial infection, and fewer hospital visits. Teleclinics have been reported to be successful in the post-surgery and post-cancer therapy follow-up, and in offering consulting services for urolithiasis patients. This review focuses on identifying the outcomes of the recent studies related to the usage of video consulting in urology centers for hematuria referrals and follow-up appointments for a variety of illnesses, including benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), kidney stone disease (KSD), and urinary tract infections (UTIs) and found that they are highly acceptable and satisfied. Certain medical disorders can cause embarrassment, social exclusion, and also poor self-esteem, all of which can negatively impair health-related quality-of-life. Telemedicine has proven beneficial in such patients and is a reliable, cost-effective patient-care tool, and it has been successfully implemented in various healthcare settings and specialties.

Strengths and weaknesses in the diagnostic process of endometriosis from the patients' perspective: a focus group study

OBJECTIVES

Endometriosis is characterized by a long interval between onset of symptoms and diagnosis. Detailed information about the patients' perspective on the diagnostic delay of endometriosis is scarce. The aim of this study was to identify strengths and weaknesses in the diagnostic process of endometriosis from the patients' perspective.

METHODS

Qualitative study with semi-structured focus groups. Participants were women between 18 and 45 years old with a recently confirmed diagnosis. The focus groups were audio recorded and fully transcribed. Grounded theory methodology was applied for data analysis.

RESULTS

Six focus groups were organized, in which 23 women participated. Mean time from start of symptoms to diagnosis was 8.5 years. Dominant themes were knowledge about normal menstruation and endometriosis, being believed and acknowledged by medical staff, and collaboration between health care providers including fast referral to a gynaecologist. Barriers to a timely referral and diagnosis were young age, normalization of symptoms and a lack of awareness in general practitioners. Facilitating factors included adequate knowledge and skills of the general practitioner, a desire for pregnancy and persisting in a request for specialist consultation by the patient.

CONCLUSIONS

The diagnostic process of endometriosis is hampered by delayed consultation, inadequate appraisal of symptoms by general practitioners and the interaction between patients and medical professionals. Efforts should be made to increase public awareness and to provide medical staff with sufficient knowledge and skills to adequately acknowledge presented symptoms.

Daily Encounters of Mental Illness Stigma and Individual Strategies to Reduce Stigma - Perspectives of People With Mental Illness

Introduction

A qualitative evaluation of mental illness stigma experienced by people with mental illness (PMI) is currently lacking in Singapore. This study aims to employ qualitative methods to identify the common encounters of mental illness stigma experienced by PMI in Singapore and uncover their individual strategies and efforts to reduce mental illness stigma.

Methods

This study is part of a larger research project that explores the concept of mental illness stigma among different stakeholders in Singapore. Focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted with 42 PMI to collect qualitative data on their experience with mental illness stigma, including encounters of stigma and individual strategies to reduce stigma. The inductive thematic analysis method was employed to analyze the data.

Results

The eight emergent themes associated with encountering stigma in PMI's everyday life were categorized into two over-arching themes, public stigma (i.e., negative beliefs and attitudes, subjected to contemptuous treatment, social exclusion, over-scrutinizing, and receiving excessive care and concern) and structural stigma (i.e., the requirement to declare psychiatric conditions during job interviews, excluded from consideration after the declaration, and requirement of medical endorsements for employment). Four themes regarding PMI's individual strategies to reduce stigma were also identified (i.e., non-disclosure of condition, standing up for themselves, individual efforts in raising awareness, improving themselves, and living life as per normal).

Limitations

Participants may be influenced by social desirability bias due to the presence of other participants in an FGD setting. Also, those who agreed to participate in the study may possess strong views or beliefs about mental illness stigma and may therefore be inherently different from those who refused to participate.

Conclusion

Our findings on instances of public and structural stigma encountered by PMI in Singapore can guide policymakers with the development of future policies and strategies to reduce mental illness stigma in the Singapore society. Furthermore, our study also identified individual strategies that PMI employed to reduce mental illness stigma. However, the effectiveness of these strategies was unclear and little is known of their effect on PMI themselves. Hence, there is a need for future studies to examine these strategies.

Stigma perpetuation at the interface of mental health care: a review to compare patient and clinician perspectives of stigma and borderline personality disorder

BACKGROUND

People with borderline personality disorder (BPD) experience significant stigma, particularly at the interface of care delivery.

AIMS

To compare and contrast what stigma looks like within mental health care contexts, from the perspective of patients and mental health professionals (MHPs) and how it is perpetuated at the interface of care.

METHOD

A review of the literature was undertaken to compare the experiences of stigma towards BPD from the patient and MHP perspective by thematically analysing the results from empirical studies exploring their experiences.

RESULTS

Thirty studies were found; 12 on patients perspectives and 18 on clinicians perspectives. Six themes arose from the thematic synthesis: (1) stigma related to diagnosis and disclosure; (2) perceived un-treatability; (3) stigma as a response to feeling powerless; (4) stigma due to preconceptions of patients; (5) low BPD health literacy and (6) overcoming stigma through enhanced empathy. A conceptual framework for explaining the perpetuation of stigma and BPD is proposed.

CONCLUSION

Stigma towards people with BPD is perpetuated through poor BPD health literacy by patients and MHPs that stalls effective treatment and engagement, and disempowers all concerned, deferring responsibility to others. Addressing this stigma requires multiple strategies that include more targeted education, advocacy and leadership.

Patients' perspective of physician associates in an acute medical unit within an English district general teaching hospital - a pilot survey study

Physician associates (PAs) are valuable members of the -medical team. However, few data are available concerning their role and contributions in acute settings from the perspective of patients. The current study explored patients' acceptance of the role of PAs in the NHS. A questionnaire was distributed to 100 patients who were under care of PAs in the acute -medical unit (AMU) of George Eliot Hospital. The questionnaire explored previous exposure to PAs, satisfaction in PA's attitude and knowledge, PA value to NHS and overall satisfaction in PA profession. Fifty women (58.1%) and 36 men (41.9%) with a mean age of 74.75 ± 10 years participated in the study. Most of the survey responders stated that the attitudes, professionalism and medical knowledge of PAs were good or very good and nearly all of respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with the role of PAs in the NHS. This pilot questionnaire survey study in the AMU of an English district general teaching hospital showed that most study participants valued the role of PAs in the NHS.

Understanding Patients' Process to Use Medical Marijuana: A Southern New Jersey Community Engagement Project

Given the necessity to better understand the process patients need to go through in order to seek treatment via medical marijuana, this study investigates this process to better understand this phenomenon. Specifically, Compassion Care Foundation (CCF) and Stockton University worked together to identify a solution to this problem. Specifically, 240 new patients at CCF were asked to complete a 1-page survey regarding various aspects associated with their experience prior to their use of medicinal marijuana—diagnosis, what prompted them to seek treatment, level of satisfaction with specific stages in the process, total length of time the process took, and patient’s level of pain. Results reveal numerous patient diagnoses for which medical marijuana is being prescribed; the top 4 most common are intractable skeletal spasticity, chronic and severe pain, multiple sclerosis, and inflammatory bowel disease. Next, results indicate a little over half of the patients were first prompted to seek alternative treatment from their physicians, while the remaining patients indicated that other sources such as written information along with friends, relatives, media, and the Internet persuaded them to seek treatment. These data indicate that a variety of sources play a role in prompting patients to seek alternative treatment and is a critical first step in this process. Additional results posit that once patients began the process of qualifying to receive medical marijuana as treatment, the process seemed more positive even though it takes patients on average almost 6 months to obtain their first treatment after they started the process. Finally, results indicate that patients are reporting a moderately high level of pain prior to treatment. Implication of these results highlights several important elements in the patients’ initial steps toward seeking medical marijuana, along with the quality and quantity of the process patients must engage in prior to obtaining treatment. In addition, identifying patients’ level of pain and better understanding the possible therapeutic value of medical marijuana are essential to patients and health practitioners.

Patients' views of adverse events in primary and ambulatory care: a systematic review to assess methods and the content of what patients consider to be adverse events

BACKGROUND

Patient safety gained widespread public attention in the last 20 years. However, most patient safety research relied upon professionals' exceptions and was realised especially in the hospital sector. Gradually patients' attention has been focused on safety campaigns in inpatient care. We aimed to better assess patients' perceptions in primary and ambulatory care.

METHODS

A systematic review was conducted by use of database searches with additional reference and hand searching. The search strategy implied MeSH-terms relating to adverse events, incident reporting and outpatient care. Relevant articles were selected by applying defined eligibility criteria. Studies exclusively based on hospital data as well as the professionals' point of view were excluded.

RESULTS

We included 19 studies. Patients were able to identify events that were traditionally recognised by the medical community as technical medical aspects (e.g. errors in diagnosis). An important field of patient participation in prevention of adverse events was proposed in the medication process. Most reported events however could be described as service quality incidents. Communication problems were shown to have implications on the occurrence of technical medical aspects and patients' satisfaction of their care. Further, unsatisfied patients were more likely to recognize adverse events.

CONCLUSION

Patients' perception of patient safety in primary and ambulatorycare broadened the previous focus on technical medical aspects. Especially communication factors played an important role in the occurrence and consequence of adverse events and patients' satisfaction. Future research should concentrate on developing possible ways to integrate patients' views and participation in ensuring safety in outpatient care.