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Metas de Enfermería

Metas de Enfermería

SEPTIEMBRE 2008 N° 7 Volumen 11

Nurses’ opinions and perceptions on the values they develop during the delivery of care

Section: Cover story

How to quote

Guerra Martín MD. Opiniones y percepciones de las enfermeras sobre los valores que desarrollan en la prestación de cuidados. Metas de Enferm sep 2008; 11(7): 26-31

Authors

Mª Dolores Guerra Martín

Position

Profesora colaboradora. Departamento de Enfermería de la Escuela Universitaria de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Sevilla.

Contact address

C/ Mariano Benlliure, 6, portal 6-2º A. 41005 Sevilla.

Contact email: guema@us.es

Abstract

Objective: to learn about the opinions and perceptions of nurses on the values they develop in nurse care-giving in their work places in the Primary Care Health Centres affiliated to the Health District of Aljarafe, in Seville.
Material and methods: cross-sectional descriptive design study using a self-elaborated anonymous questionnaire applied to nursing professionals with more than 5 years work experience in the health centres of the Health District of Aljarafe. The values studied were: justice, compassion, respect for patient autonomy, confidentiality, and professional secret.
Results: of the total number of nurses from the health centres selected (N=85), 70% (N=60) answered the questionnaire. 55% were women. Mean age was 39,23 years (SD=10.39). 65% had worked in Primary Care between 5 and 11 years. On the question regarding whether the justice principle was respected during nursing care, 71,6% answered “always or most of the time”, 26,7% “sometimes” and 1,7% did not answer the question. Regarding the value Compassion in care-giving, 68,3% responded “always or most of the time” and 31,7% answered “there is no compassion or sometimes only”. In regards to the question of whether patient autonomy was respected, 66,7% answered “always or most of the time”, 28,3% “there is no respect or sometimes only” and 5% did not answer the question.
On confidentiality and professional secret, 88,4% answered “always or most of the time”, 8,3% “not present or sometimes only” and 3,3% did not answer the question.
Conclusions: nurses believe that confidentiality is a fundamental value in the nursepatient relationship given that it is an ethical principle in the nursing profession.
In regards to justice in care-giving, nurses believe it cannot be achieved due to a lack of resources and dependant on healthcare policies. Regarding compassion, some nurses describe it as empathy and dependant on the nurse’s level of compassion.
Finally, concerning patients’ autonomy, nurses believe that it is being taken into consideration more and more. Furthermore, these patients must be previously informed so they can decide on issues related to their health.

Keywords:

values; Primary Care; nurses; care-giving; justice; compassion; respect for autonomyconfidentiality

Versión en Español

Título:

Opiniones y percepciones de las enfermeras sobre los valores que desarrollan en la prestación de cuidados