Patient participation in municipal elderly care from the perspective of nurses and occupational therapists.
Kajsa Lidström Holmqvist, Inger James
PMID 31367443WHAT IT FOUND
Nurses and occupational therapists in Swedish elderly care described patient participation as ranging from making patients comply to handing them power.
Seventy-nine per cent worked with it daily, but 56 per cent had not read the Patient Act.
Key findings
01Nurses and occupational therapists described patient participation as ranging from making the patient comply to handing power to the patient.
02Ninety of the 114 respondents worked with patient participation daily, but 64 had not read or received information about the Patient Participation Act.
03No prominent differences emerged between nurses and occupational therapists, but occupational therapists focused on habits, roles and activities, while nurses said listening was important without specifying what knowledge was needed.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Only 114 staff from one Swedish municipality responded. The nurse list was forwarded by managers, so the true nurse response rate could not be verified. The study asked staff to describe participation; it did not measure patients' experiences or care outcomes. Respondents may have been more interested in participation than non-respondents. The anonymous questionnaire gave less depth than interviews would.
Declared interests
The authors report no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that patient participation improves outcomes or that nurses and occupational therapists differ. This was a small survey of staff views, not a test of care, and it found no prominent differences between the professions.