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Page 45

December 05-06, 2019 | Dubai, UAE

International Conference on

Nursing Education and Research

Cancer and Cancer Therapy

Joint Event

Journal of Intensive and Critical Care Nursing | Volume 2

The involvement of relatives in the care of patients in medical settings in Australia

and Saudi Arabia - An ethnographic study

Shadia Alshahrani

King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia

Aims:

To explore the role relatives play in the care of patients

in medical ward settings in Australia and Saudi Arabia and to

understand the nature of this involvement.

Background:

There is little known about how nurses and

relatives respond to the involvement of relatives in patient

care and the impact of the participation on the quality of care.

Previous studies have focused on settings such as critical care

and paediatrics where relatives’ involvement as advocates is

mostly acknowledged and accepted.

Design:

The study used a qualitative ethnographic approach

based on an interpretive paradigm.

Methods:

Data collection was carried out in medical settings

in two major hospitals; one in Australia and another in Saudi

Arabia. Data were collected by observations and interviews

over a six-month period with three months spent in each

setting.

Results:

In both fields nurses and relatives faced ongoing

ambiguity about the role relatives should play in the

hospital environment and nurses were challenged by the

unpredictability of relatives’ participation in patient care. The

nurses’ fear of taking responsibility and uncertainty about

the relatives’ role led them to take varied and individualised

approaches to the involvement of relatives in patient care.

Relatives were unclear about how to behave in the role,

what the needs of patients were and whether they were

contributing positively to care and this resulted in frustration.

Conclusion:

The results show that ambiguity regarding the

role of relatives led to problems in patient care such as safety

concerns and conflict with nurses.

shalshrani@kku.edu.sa

J Intensive Crit Care Nurs | Volume 2