Nursing Model and Health Outcomes of Elderly People with Multimorbidity: a Quasi-experimental Study

Effect of the Primary Nursing Model on Health Outcomes of Elderly Person with Multimorbidity: a Quasi-experimental Study

The goal of this quasi-experimental study is to analyze the effect of organizing nursing care according to the primary nursing model on therapeutic self-care and satisfaction with nursing care for elderly people with multimorbidity in hospital. Participants were patients of both sexes aged over 65 years with at least two chronic diseases admitted to an acute hospital ward. The main questions it aims to answer are:

• Does the use of the primary nursing model increase participants' perceived ability for therapeutic self-care?
• Does the use of the primary care model increase participants' satisfaction with nursing care? The researchers are comparing whether implementing the primary nursing model with the usual care model increases patients' capacity for therapeutic self-care.

Participants:

• Complete a self-care skills questionnaire on admission to the inpatient unit;
• Complete the same self-care questionnaire on discharge from hospital;
• Complete the same self-care questionnaire by telephone one month after discharge from hospital
• Complete a nursing care satisfaction questionnaire on discharge from hospital;

The self-care skills questionnaire used was the Therapeutic Self-care Scale (TSC), translated and validated for the Portuguese population.

The questionnaire used to assess satisfaction with care was the Scale of Citizen Satisfaction with Care (ESCCE), validated for the Portuguese population.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Have at least two chronic diseases
• Have at least one disease classified in the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD9) and belonging to one of the following groups: cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diabetes;
• Expect to be hospitalised for more than 48 hours;
• Have the cognitive ability to read, write and understand the information provided;
• Speak, read and write Portuguese.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Transfer to other levels of care within the organisation
• Discharged to other care units outside the organisation
• Episodes of readmission within 30 days of leaving hospital, as this made the last moment of data collection impossible.