The relationship of hospitalized elders' perceptions of nurse caring behaviors, type of care unit, satisfaction with nursing care, and the health outcome of functional status
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Dey, Marlene Melchiorre. The relationship of hospitalized elders' perceptions of nurse caring behaviors, type of care unit, satisfaction with nursing care, and the health outcome of functional status. Retrieved from https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/T35D8PZN
TitleThe relationship of hospitalized elders' perceptions of nurse caring behaviors, type of care unit, satisfaction with nursing care, and the health outcome of functional status
DescriptionElders use more hospital care, healthcare dollars, and are at the greatest risk for negative outcomes than any other age group. Researchers suggest that hospitalized elders are not always satisfied with nursing care and their health outcomes are poor. Nurses Improving Care for Health System Elders (NICHE) is an innovative care model that provides hospital nurses with best practices to improve elders’ healthcare. Two sub-models under NICHE were tested in a hospital that subscribed to the NICHE model of care: the Geriatric Resource Nurse (GRN) whereby nurses’ are knowledgeable to provide quality bedside nursing care to hospitalized elders; and the Acute Care Elder (ACE) unit, an environmental adaptation for elders that includes an interdisciplinary team focused on preventing geriatric syndromes. The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationships of hospitalized elders’ perceptions of nurse caring behaviors, the type of care unit (ACE or Telemetry), satisfaction with nursing care, and the health outcome of functional status. Also tested was, if the type of care unit (ACE or Telemetry) moderated ii the effect of elders’ perceptions of nurse caring behaviors on satisfaction with nursing care; and if the type of care unit (ACE or Telemetry) moderated the effect of elders’ perceptions of nurse caring behaviors on the health outcome of functional status. A non-experimental predictive correlational design was used to test the hypotheses. Elders’ perceptions of nurse caring behavior were associated with and predicted their satisfaction with nursing care, r(178) = .555, p = .000, and overall, elders felt cared for and satisfied with the nursing care delivered. Older elders experienced significantly more functional decline, and those married or partnered experienced significantly less functional decline. There was significantly less functional decline (14.4%) than had been reported in earlier research (33%) in the total subject population. No association was found between nurse caring behaviors and the health outcome of functional status or satisfaction with nursing care between units. A two-hour orientation given to all new nurses on the topic of geriatric syndromes hospitalized may have confounded the lack of difference in units, but might have contributed to the overall perceptions of nurse caring, satisfaction and positive health outcomes.