Main caregiver profile and its relation with the nursery staff services
Keywords:
Caregivers, Psychology, Nursing care, Nursing staffAbstract
Introduction: The care provided by persons not belonging to the health team goes unnoticed; however, it cannot be denied that help given by these people is often irreplaceable and their activities go beyond providing endearment to the hospitalized patient.
Objective: To determine the primary caregiver’s profile and its relationship with the care provided by nurses to the inpatients of a general hospital in Manzanillo, Colima, México.
Methodology: A correlational, prospective and cross-sectional study was performed. The sample consisted of 117 subjects. We validated and used an adapted instrument, based on the proposed by Aurora Quero Rufián. This instrument was applied through direct interview to the primary caregiver. In order to do this, we previously identified 15 care needs of the inpatient.
Results: The average age was 39.08 years (SD ± 13.22 years); 86.3 % were females. About schooling, primary and secondary education prevailed with 70.9 %. In 67.5 % of the cases, the caregiver lived with the patient, and 30.8 % was spouse or partner. Regarding the patient, 53.8 % were men and 50.4 % were inpatients in Internal Medicine service. When the assessment of the 15 care needs was done, 65 % of the caregivers considered that the tasks had to be carried out by them; the remaining 35 % referred that those tasks should be made by the nursing staff.
Conclusions: The boundaries of responsibility between the nursing staff and the caregiver are clearly set out, despite the caregivers should be trained to the inpatient discharge in order to prevent relapse or complications. We must not forget that the responsible to provide cares during hospitalization should be the nursing staff.
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