Background and Objective
Considering the importance of respecting the rights and satisfaction of patients, as well as the destructive role of anxiety in patients' recovery processes, the present study aimed to evaluate the effect of regular nursing rounds based on ethical care on the level of satisfaction and anxiety among hospitalized patients. In the majority of cases, the duties of the nursing staff are currently limited to drug codex and intravenous injections; moreover, the lack of effective communication as a service requirement in the nurse-patient relationship is clearly observed, while the nurse can easily provide the patient's presence at the bedside. Care, by asking the patient about the disease and the need for personal care, provides the formation of an appropriate relationship. The development of a universal code of ethics with the topics of confidentiality, respect for patient rights, and honesty highlights the need for the nurse to support the patient and adhere to ethics in providing care. Failure to pay attention to these issues creates conditions that prevent the patient from expressing his/her problems, causing considerable psychological and physical harm to hospitalized patients; therefore, the provision of ethical care is of utmost importance in patient satisfaction. The present study aimed to assess the effect of regular nursing rounds based on ethical care on patients' levels of anxiety and satisfaction with the quality of nursing care.
Materials and Methods
This quasi-experimental study was conducted based on a pre-test-post-test design in Fatemieh Hospital in Hamadan, Iran. A total of 100 hospitalized patients were assigned to two groups of control and intervention (n=50 in each group), and patients in the intervention group received a clinical round based on ethical care, in addition to routine care. The control group only received routine care. Each intervention lasted three days. In this way, the intervention group received a comfort round from the first day to the third day, which includes care and disobedience every two hours, examining pain and pain control interventions, patients’ results, moral needs, and the moral care they received. The control group received routine nursing care. Finally, the difference between the mean scores of satisfaction with nursing services and the anxiety of the two groups before and after the intervention was analyzed in SPSS software (version 20) using descriptive and inferential tests.
Results
A total of 100 pairs of questionnaires were provided before and after the intervention (n=50 in each group). The two groups of intervention and control were not significantly different in terms of underlying variables and disease and were homogeneous. In the intervention group, after receiving the relevant training, anxiety decreased and the level of patients' satisfaction with the quality of nursing care increased significantly, as compared to patients in the control group; therefore, the intervention was effective (P<0.001).
Conclusion
The present study aimed to assess the effect of regular nursing rounds based on ethical care on hospitalized patients’ levels of anxiety and satisfaction with the quality of nursing care. Based on the results, respect for the patient, which was performed in the present study as a regular nursing round based on ethical care, not only increases patients' satisfaction with nursing services but also reduces the patient's anxiety about hospitalization, making them more relaxed as one of It leads to the most vulnerable social groups physically, mentally and socially. The intervention performed in this study significantly increased patients' satisfaction with nursing services in all four areas of professional knowledge and skills, communication, nursing ethics, and patient education. As evidenced by the results of this study, the allocation of sufficient time (once every two hours) to the patient was a golden opportunity to honor patients, communicate effectively with them, and ultimately provide them with appropriate training, resulting in increased satisfaction and reduced patient anxiety. Considering the effect of clinical rounds based on ethical care on anxiety and patients' satisfaction with the quality of nursing care, it is recommended to be used as an intervention in therapeutic wards.