title: Pre-operative patient teaching in an acute care ward in Hong Kong: a case study.
abstract: Many nurses have acknowledged that adequate pre-operative teaching can alleviate patients' anxiety, increase patient participation in their own care, and minimize post-operative complications. However, the organization and degree to which pre-operative patient teachingfeatured in nurses' practice varies in different acute care settings. A case study design was used to explore the practice of pre-operative teaching in a surgical ward of an acute general hospital in Hong Kong. Seventeen registered nurses working on the ward were interviewed and observed in order to explore how they conduct a pre-operative teaching program and the difficulties encountered by them in carrying out pre-operative teaching on this acute care setting. Thefindings of this study indicate that pre-operative teaching workshops are organized and conducted by nursesfrom the operating theatre, in the day surgery center. Ward nurses were not actively involved in this pre-operative teaching. The results of this study present some similarities to a study with the similar design in Australia. There are also issues unique to the Hong Kong context. This case study was to review Hong Kong nurses' current practices of pre-operative teaching and to understand the cultural, conceptual and managementfactors influencing the practice in pre-operative teaching.
authors.affiliation: Health Service Unit, Sunbury Campus, Victoria University of Technology Australia.
authors.forename: David S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: W T
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Chien
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006723:Hong Kong; D006764:Hospitals, Community; D006769:Hospitals, General; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D024802:Nurse's Role; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000523:psychology*; D015279:Organizational Culture; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011300:Preoperative Care / Q000451:nursing*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D020377:Self Efficacy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013663:Teaching / Q000458:organization & administration*