What are important for patient centered care? A quantitative study based on perception of patients' with cancer

Today in all aspects of health care, there is a considerable emphasis on the provision of patient centered care. Various researches in cancer wards have demonstrated that from view of patients, there were some similarities and differences in importance of care in different cultural area. This study aimed to assess what are important for patient centered care in cancer wards.

This is a descriptive study conducted with  participation of 200 patients with cancer  from a cancer center in Tabriz. Convenience sampling was used. The data were collected using Care-Questionnaire, developed by Larson. The Caring behaviors were ordered in 6 dimensions: "Being accessible", "Explains and facilitates", "Comforts", "Anticipates", "Trusting relationship", "Monitors and follows through" and ordered on a 5-point Likert-type scale. The data were analyzed using SPSS ver. 13.0.

The results showed that patients with cancer evaluated most of nurses caring behaviors with higher scores (moderate to high) and  assigned the "Monitors and follows through" and "Being accessible" as patients' higher priorities vs the "Comforts" 4.06 (0.50) and "Trusting Relationships" as lower priorities.

The findings of the present study, indicate that the "Monitors and follows through" and "Being accessible" caring behaviors have more importance by patients with cancer, so these conduces nurses to notice and perform these behaviors in their nursing care. By so doing, moving to the main goal of patient centered care can be provided.