A study to assess the involvement of family members in the care of hospitalised patients.

Abstract

The study was conducted at St. Francis Hospital in Katete District, Eastern Province. The title of the study is to assess the involvement of family members in the care of the hospitalised patients. Some of its objectives were : To find out to what extent the family members participate in the care of the hospitalised patients. To find out the problems the family members encounter while taking care of their patients. The literature review was based on the importance and role of family members and also on what is expected of nurses in order to ease the involvement of family members in patient care. Fifty (50) family members who were looking after the hospitalised patients were sampled using simple random sampling method. The findings revealed that all the respondents (50) 100% were involved in patient care although some family members were not oriented to the ward and did not receive explanation on the activities they participated in. They were not supervised nor assisted. 151/o^jpf the family members stated that they got involved in patient care because they felt that it was part of their responsibility. The study results also revealed that there was no proper demarcation between roles of nurses and the relatives as the latter group was doing almost everything for the patient.

Some recommendations are that there is need for nurses to have in service courses periodically in which they have to be reminded of the basic principles of Nursing such as orientation of patients and relatives and communication.