Inpatient unit where the primary nursing model has been implemented.

In this unit there was no change in the model of nursing care; the model used was the individualized care model. In this model, each nurse is responsible for the whole care of a group of patients on one working day and may or may not be given responsibility for the same patients on subsequent days. The patients who agreed to participate in the study completed the same questionnaires and at the same frequency as the patients in the intervention unit.

The nurses received training in primary nursing care before the start of the intervention. The model was tested and implemented in early April 2022. Since then, all patients admitted to the unit have been assigned to a primary nurse within the first 48 hours. This nurse is responsible for developing and monitoring the patient's care plan, assessing care needs, implementing the care plan and evaluating the outcomes. This nurse is also responsible for coordinating care needs and discharge planning with other healthcare professionals. When the primary nurse is not working, another nurse from his or her team continues the care plan that he or she has defined. All patients admitted to the unit who met the selection criteria were informed about the study and, if they agreed to take part, completed a self-care competence questionnaire at admission (baseline), at discharge and one month after discharge. They also completed a questionnaire on satisfaction with nursing care at discharge.

Evaluated by the difference in response to the Therapeutic Self-Care Scale on admission and discharge from the unit. It is a 12-question Likert scale with a minimum score of zero (0) and a maximum score of five (5), with higher scores corresponding to better results. Average response scores are used.

Evaluated by the difference between the response to the Therapeutic Self-Care Scale at discharge and at follow-up.

Also assessed by the difference between the response to the Therapeutic Self-Care Scale at admission and at follow-up.

Therapeutic Self-Care Scale is a 12-question Likert scale with a minimum score of zero (0) and a maximum score of five (5), with higher scores corresponding to better results. Average response scores are used.

Assessed by answering the Citizen Satisfaction with Nursing Care Scale at discharge from the unit. This is a 47-question Likert scale with a minimum score of one (1) and a maximum of seven (7), with higher scores corresponding to better results. Average and total response scores are used.