Nursing Strategies to Promote Patient Independence and Dignity

Introduction

Nurses have a vital role to play across the full spectrum of care settings, from hospital-based emergency care to home-based hospice care. Nurses have evolved from being simple supportive caregivers to occupying a central role in ensuring optimal care for patients. Today's nurses are not only expected to develop critical thinking skills but also to focus on strategies designed to promote patient independence, individuality, and dignity. These qualities positively influence patients' coping and recovery while minimizing discomfort during the period of their illness. Holistic nursing care includes addressing the emotional needs of patients as an integral part of the nursing care plan. An overview of the nursing strategies designed to promote such holistic care, along with a discussion of their benefits, provides useful insight into the topic.

Promoting Patient Independence Through Self-Management

The nursing role is not limited to administering prescribed medications and monitoring patients' vital signs. Nurses also have a duty to keep patients well informed about their condition and the various treatment plans available. In other words, nurses are entrusted with the role of assisting patients in making well-informed decisions. In this way, nurses can promote patient independence by making patients more participative in treatment choices.

One of the ways to increase patients' independence is to help promote self-management. A Swedish study examined the effectiveness of self-administration of subcutaneous anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) therapy among 20 rheumatological patients who chose to undergo this treatment modality. Analysis using patient interviews identified four distinct categories of patients: (1) Struggling — striving to be independent; (2) Learning — learning about new treatment choices; (3) Participating — seeking to be knowledgeable, well informed, and able to select their own therapy; and (4) Independent — patients who felt comfortable caring for themselves without the need for external intervention. Overall, the study reflected that patients consistently strove for independence.

Nurses can help bring about patient independence by being effective communicators and by disseminating information about new and novel treatments. At the individual level, nurses are better equipped to help the patient or immediate family members understand new treatment modalities by assessing their individual comprehension abilities and providing information in suitable formats. Nurses can accomplish this by using simple written material or interactive multimedia presentations (Mark H. Beers, 2006). This approach aids in obtaining informed consent and, from the hospital administrator's perspective, informed decision-making helps reduce legal complications (Gyomber et al., 2010).

Family Involvement and Informed Decision-Making

By educating family members, nurses can help improve the quality of life for patients with chronic conditions. This equips family members with the skills necessary to successfully implement and monitor patient self-management — reminding patients to adhere to their schedule, motivating them, and providing practical assistance with daily tasks. Having the active participation of family members in the self-management process also helps reduce the emotional stress associated with the disease condition. Nurses can therefore effectively engage family members to provide the psychosocial support that patients require (Marie Rosland, 2009).

Informed consent is closely tied to this process. When nurses use accessible communication strategies — whether through printed materials or multimedia presentations — both patients and their families are better positioned to understand treatment options and participate meaningfully in care decisions. This collaborative approach reinforces patient autonomy while also protecting the interests of all parties involved in the care relationship.

Conclusion

Nurses can ensure dignity in care provision by promptly supervising patient privacy in the ward, ensuring adequate curtain material, blankets, and necessary bedside furniture are available. They can also be proactive in confronting any compromise of dignity by fellow care providers and in immediately informing management of any resource shortages that affect dignified care (Royal College of Nursing, 2008).

The nursing role extends well beyond dignified care provision. Nurses must also fill the roles of educator, counselor, researcher, and psychosocial support provider. As direct caregivers, nurses experience the emotional needs of patients firsthand and therefore bear responsibility for arranging adequate support networks. Such networks are invaluable in providing emotional balance to patients who are overburdened and distressed by the pain and infirmity resulting from their medical condition. By coordinating patient support networks, nurses help ensure that patients receive the psychosocial support that is indispensable to their total recovery.

1. Mark H. Beers, MD & Thomas V. Jones, MD et al. (June 2006). The Merck Manual of Geriatrics: Chapter 8: Nursing. Published by Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp.

2. Dennis Gyomber, Nathan Lawrentschuk & Peter Wong et al. (March 2010). Improving informed consent for patients undergoing radical prostatectomy using multimedia techniques: a prospective randomized crossover study. BJU International, Vol. 106, Issue 8, pp. 1152–1156.

3. Ann Marie Rosland (2009). Sharing the Care: The Role of Family in Chronic Illness. Retrieved January 17, 2011, from

4. Royal College of Nursing (2008). Defending Dignity: Challenges and Opportunities for Nursing. Retrieved January 17, 2011, from