Person-centred care among intensive care unit nurses: A cross-sectional study

Intensive Crit Care Nurs. 2022 Dec:73:103293. doi: 10.1016/j.iccn.2022.103293. Epub 2022 Jul 21.

Abstract

Objective: Practising person-centred care is crucial for nurses in the intensive care unit, as patients have high physical and psychological care needs. We aimed to identify the predictors of person-centred care among nurses working in intensive care settings.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 188 intensive care unit nurses at four tertiary hospitals in two cities of South Korea were included. They completed self-reported questionnaires on emotional intelligence, compassion satisfaction, secondary traumatic stress, burnout, and person-centred care. Emotional intelligence was measured using the Korean version of the Wong and Law's emotional intelligence scale. Compassion satisfaction, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout were measured by the Professional Quality of Life questionnaire (version 5). Person-centred care was measured using the person-centred critical care nursing scale.

Results: Multiple regression identified compassion satisfaction (β = 0.49, p <.001) as the most powerful predictor of person-centred care, followed by emotional intelligence (β = 0.21, p =.004) and intensive care unit career length (β = 0.17, p =.021). These three variables accounted for 31.0 % of the variance in person-centred care.

Conclusions: This study highlights the importance of career length, emotional intelligence, and compassion satisfaction in the promotion of person-centred care among intensive care unit nurses. Nursing management should contemplate specific measures to reduce turnover among experienced intensive care unit nurses and to enhance the factors that promote person-centred care, such as compassion satisfaction and emotional intelligence.

Keywords: Critical care nursing; Emotional intelligence; Intensive care units; Nurses; Patient-centred care.

MeSH terms

  • Burnout, Professional* / psychology
  • Compassion Fatigue* / psychology
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Empathy
  • Humans
  • Intensive Care Units
  • Job Satisfaction
  • Nurses*
  • Patient-Centered Care
  • Quality of Life / psychology
  • Surveys and Questionnaires