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Meaning of Courtesy and Respect: Nurse and Patient Experiences
Elizabeth Mayfield1, Martha E F Highfield, Sherri Mendelson
1St Joseph Hospital, Orange, California (Ms Mayfield); and Providence Holy Cross Medical Center, Mission Hills, California (Drs Highfield and Mendelson).
Background:
Treating patients with courtesy and respect has quality, ethical, and fiscal ramifications.
Purpose:
This qualitative study revealed meanings of nurse courtesy and respect as imbedded in nurse and patient stories.
Methods:
Audio-recorded interviews were collected from 15 registered nurses and 17 patients on a medical-surgical unit in a 377-bed, nonprofit, Magnet-recognized facility.
Results:
Six themes related to courtesy and respect emerged during descriptive content analysis by 2 researchers: (1) being attentive (with subthemes taking time, physical care, and proactive engagement); (2) giving empathetic support; (3) honoring culture and beliefs; (4) recognizing the family; (5) recognizing patient space; and (6) recognizing personhood (with subthemes of showing ordinary politeness and recognizing the individual and honoring choices).
Conclusions:
Informants' stories contributed toward a better understanding of what it means to treat patients with courtesy and respect; and they created context for interpreting HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) numerical results. Further research is warranted.
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