Nurses’ views of patient- and family-centered care and its practices in peri-operative contexts in hospitals in Northern Ghana

Abstract

Abstract Background The purpose of the study was to explore the views of nurses on the concept of patient- and family-centered care (PFCC) and its practices in a peri-operative context in Northern Ghanaian hospitals Methods The study, using a qualitative explorative, descriptive and contextual research design was conducted at six selected hospitals located in the Northern part of Ghana. Purposive sampling was used to recruit participants for individual and focus group interviews. Data were generated between March and May 2022. Data saturation was reached with 27 participants comprising 15 individuals and 12 members from two focus group interviews. All interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim and the data analysed using thematic analysis. Results Two themes emerged from the study, namely nurses’ understanding of the concept of PFCC and how they see the benefits of PFCC in a peri-operative context. Subthemes of the nurses’ understanding of PFCC included their perceptions of PFCC, the need for collaboration, information sharing and communication and the importance of PFCC practices in a peri-operative context. Subthemes for benefits of PFCC in the peri-operative context included nurse-related benefits, patient- and family-related benefits and healthcare system-related benefits. Conclusions The study revealed that the concept PFCC is unfamiliar to the Ghanaian peri-operative context despite the positive perceptions exhibited by the nurses in terms of their understanding of PFCC and its related benefits to nurses, patients and families as well as the healthcare system.