Maintaining patients' dignity during clinical care: a qualitative interview study.
OBJECTIVE
This article is a report of a study undertaken to understand how nurses maintain patients' dignity in clinical practice.


BACKGROUND
Dignity is a core concept in nursing care and maintaining patients' dignity is critical to their recovery. In Western countries, measures to maintain dignity in patients' care include maintaining privacy of the body, providing spatial privacy, giving sufficient time, treating patients as a whole person and allowing patients to have autonomy. However, this is an under-studied topic in Asian countries.


METHODS
For this qualitative descriptive study, data were collected in Taiwan in 2009 using in-depth interviews with a purposive sample of 30 nurses from a teaching hospital in eastern Taiwan. The audiotaped interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using content analysis.


RESULTS
Nurses' measures to maintain dignity in patient care were captured in five themes: respect, protecting privacy, emotional support, treating all patients alike and maintaining body image. Participants did not mention beneficence, a crucial element achieved through the professional care of nurses that can enhance the recovery of patients.


CONCLUSIONS
In-service education to help nurses enhance dignity in patient care should emphasize emotional support, maintaining body image and treating all patients alike. Our model for maintaining dignity in patient care could be used to develop a clinical care protocol for nurses to use in clinical practice.
Department of Nursing, Mennonite Christian Hospital, Hualien, Taiwan.
Yea-Pyng
YP
Lin
Yun-Fang
YF
Tsai
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001828:Body Image; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D004993:Ethics, Nursing; D018939:Holistic Nursing / Q000941:ethics; D006801:Humans; D016294:Models, Nursing; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations / Q000941:ethics*; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology; D028701:Patient Rights / Q000941:ethics*; D028723:Personhood; D018907:Privacy / Q000523:psychology; D036301:Qualitative Research; D013624:Taiwan