Pre-operative patient teaching in an acute care ward in Hong Kong: A case study
David S Lee
Health Service Unit, School of Human Services, Art and Multi Media, Victoria University of Technology, Sunbury VIC
Wai Tong Chien
School of Nursing, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, PR China
PP: 271 - 280
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 teaching featured 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. The findings of this study indicate that pre-operative teaching workshops are organized and conducted by nurses from the operating theatre, in the day surgery center. Ward nurses were not actively involved in this preoperative 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 preoperative teaching and to understand the cultural, conceptual and management factors influencing the practice in pre-operative teaching.
Keywords
acute care; pre-operative teaching; patient participation; training location; peri-operative care; comparative study
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