Loving and Humane Care: A Missing Link in Nursing

Patients' Satisfaction with Humane Care in Critical Care Units

Background:

It is important to assess the provision of care in a humane framework to achieve patients' holistic needs in Critical Care Units (CCUs) and to promote health outcomes. The aim of the current study was to determine patients' satisfaction with humane care in CCUs.

Materials and Methods:

In the current descriptive–analytical study, data were collected from 225 patients admitted to the CCUs of seven teaching hospitals in Lorestan Province, Iran, in 2017. The Persian version of the Revised Humane Caring Scale (P-RHCS) was used in this study. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics (independent t-test and one-way ANOVA).

Results:

The mean (SD) overall score of the P-RHCS was 4.61 (0.53), which indicated that patients were highly satisfied with humane care. The patients were most satisfied with “professional performance” [mean (SD) 4.72 (0.60)] and “interdisciplinary collaboration” [mean (SD) 4.72 (0.65)], and the least satisfied with “awareness of and contribution to self-care” [mean (SD) 4.23 (0.78)]. The findings revealed that patients' satisfaction with humane care depends on their demographic and clinical characteristics.

Conclusions:

Generally, patients were satisfied with humane care provided in CCUs; however, it is recommended that nurses' skills be reinforced, especially regarding information provision and effective communication with patients to improve health outcomes.

Psychometric Testing of the Persian Version of the Revised Humane Caring Scale for Patients Admitted to Critical Care Units

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

To determine the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Revised Humane Caring Scale (RHCS) for patients admitted to critical care units.

METHODS

Data were collected from 337 patients admitted to critical care units. A methodological study was carried out to assess content, face and construct validity and reliability.

RESULTS

The results revealed good content validity. After the elimination of four items in the confirmatory factor analysis, a 42-item model with acceptable fit indices was confirmed. The scale had a high internal consistency. The reliability of each item was satisfactory using the intra-class correlation. Only item 33 was considered unstable and was ultimately eliminated.

CONCLUSIONS

The Persian version of the 41-item RHCS is an acceptable assessment scale for measuring patient satisfaction with humane caring in critical care units.

Love in Nursing: A Concept Analysis

Introduction: Professional nursing is based on caring. Care is a combination of love and respect in interacting with others. There are many concerns about nursing care without love. However, the concept and meaning of love in nursing have not been paid the due attention. This study analyzed the concept of love in nursing. The aim of this study is to describe and discuss the concept of love in nursing.

Methods: A concept analysis was conducted using the 8-step Walker and Avant’s model. Databases such as SID, PubMed, Web of Science, CINHAL, SCOPUS and Google Scholar were searched. The terms “love”,”concept analysis” and “nursing” were used for searching in international sources. No time limit was considered in searching the databases and all studies were published until December 2017. In the initial search, 142 articles were found but finally eight articles remained relevant and entered the study.

Results: The authors did not find a special independent tool to measure love in nursing. Therefore, we define love in nursing as follows: the combination of nursing care with a sense of responsibility, benevolence, attention and concern, respect, and understanding of others as a human being, regardless of their negative consequences for themselves.

Conclusion: Understanding the meaning of love in nursing can promote nursing practice in two ways. First, the nurses are examining their values and beliefs. Second, they find out how to interact with patients.