Patients' views of rehabilitation

Patients and nurses may not appreciate the differences between acute care settings and rehabilitation units. The relative informality and 'hands-off' approach of nurses in the latter can lead to confusion and misunderstanding for people whose exclusive experience of nursing is in the acute sector. At the behest of concerned nurses on a rehabilitation unit, the author conducted interviews with discharged patients to try to establish what their perceptions of the unit were, and how these influenced their progress. The results suggested that the patients' misconceptions may have been hindering their rehabilitation potential. The nurses subsequently devised an action plan to improve understanding of the unit's aims and practices. Follow-up interviews after the plan's implementation showed that it had been successful in improving patients' understanding and engagement with the rehabilitation process.