Date of Award

Spring 1981

Document Type

Thesis - Restricted

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Nursing

Abstract

Patient knowledge of self-care practices upon discharge from units with different modalities of nursing care, primary and team, was measured and compared using a 36-item questionnaire developed by the researcher. Twenty patients with a new primary diagnosis of congestive heart failure or diabetes were interviewed a day before they were to be discharged from the hospital. Ten were patients from primary nursing care units and ten were patients from team nursing care units. Patients were asked to respond to an interview guide which was divided into three major categories. The first category contained items which evaluated the patients' knowledge about their diseases, diets, medications and future health care practices, the second category contained items which evaluated the nurses' involvement in the teaching, and the third category contained items which evaluated the family involvement in the teaching. Using the Mann-Whitney U Test, no significant difference in patient knowledge of future self-care practices (category I) was found between patients on primary and team nursing care units. Using the chi-square test, there was no significant difference in the number of times primary nurses and team nurses were involved in patient teaching (category II) and no significant difference in the number of times family members were included in patient teaching on primary and team nursing care units (category III). The demographic variables of age and sex were significant with the younger age subjects and female participants scoring significantly higher in category I, knowledge of future self-care practices.

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