Comparing nurses' and patients' perceptions of dignity in burn care: a cross-sectional study

Maintaining patients' dignity is a moral responsibility of nurses. Patients with burn injury experience changes in their body appearance, self-concept and social roles, which may lead to their fear of losing dignity. The aim of this study was to compare nurses' and patients' perceptions of preserving dignity of patients with burn injury.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 110 nurse-patient dyads at Amir-Al-Moemenin Burn Hospital, Shiraz, Iran between August 2023 to February 2024. Data were collected using patient dignity questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS software version 23.0, utilizing descriptive tests, Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis, Wilcoxon, and Spearman's correlation coefficient.

A significant difference was found between the overall scores of nurses' (143.21 ± 13.29) and patients' (136.70 ± 13.8) perceptions of preserving patients' dignity (p = 0.002). Furthermore, a significant difference was observed between their perceptions of two dignity dimensions including communication and privacy (p < 0.001). However, no significant difference was found between their perceptions of the two dimensions of autonomy and respect (p > 0.05).

This study highlights disparities in nurses' and patients' perceptions of preserving burn patients' dignity so that patients' perception of the nurses maintained their dignity was lower than what the nurses themselves believed. Therefore, nurses must pay more attention to maintaining the dignity of patients with burn injuries.