title: Nurses' views of patient participation in nursing care.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore nurses' views of patient participation in nursing care on medical wards.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Nurses have frequent contact with patients, highlighting their potential role in enabling patient participation. However, some nurses' actions and attitudes act as barriers, failing to achieve core requirements of patient participation. Discovering nurses' views may assist in developing strategies to encourage patient participation in hospitals.
  
  
  METHODS
  Interpretive study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty nurses were recruited from four medical wards, located in two Australian hospitals. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted between November 2013-March 2014 and analysed using content analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Five categories emerged from the nurses' views. The first category, acknowledging patients as partners, showed nurses respected patients as legitimate participants. In the second category, managing risk, nurses emphasized the need to monitor participation to ensure rules and patient safety were maintained. Enabling participation was the third category, which demonstrated nurses' strategies that enhanced patients' participation. The fourth category was hindering participation; encapsulating nurses' difficulty in engaging patients with certain characteristics. In the final category, realizing participation, nurses believed patients could be involved in physical activities or clinical communication.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Nurses have a crucial role in promoting patient participation. Through acknowledging and enabling participation, nurses may facilitate patient participation in a range of nursing activities. The nurse's role in enacting participation is complex, having to accommodate each patient's risks and characteristics, highlighting the need for good assessment skills. Education, policy and research strategies are essential to foster nurses' pivotal role in patient participation.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health Practice Innovation, Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Georgia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tobiano
authors.affiliation: Centre for Quality and Patient Safety, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.|Alfred Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Tracey
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bucknall
authors.affiliation: National Centre of Research Excellence in Nursing Interventions for Hospitalised Patients, Centre for Health Practice Innovation, Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Southport, Queensland, Australia.|Gold Coast Health, Southport, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marshall
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing and Midwifery, Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guinane
authors.affiliation: National Centre of Research Excellence in Nursing Interventions for Hospitalised Patients, Centre for Health Practice Innovation, Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Southport, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chaboyer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001315:Australia; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D010358:Patient Participation / Q000523:psychology*; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: communication; consumer participation; nurse-patient relations; nursing care; patient engagement; patient participation; patient safety; patient-centred care