Ensuring care for patients is the first duty of nurses and it represents one of the most important factors of human development and survival.
Objective
To explore nurse-patient interactions according to nurses’ characteristics, such as: gender, work experience in oncology field and shift work.
Methods
A cross-sectional study was carried out during September-October 2023 among Italian nurses who were employed in oncology settings. Gender, years of work experience in oncology field, shift work and the “Caring Nurse-Patient Interactions Scale” (CNPI) were administered. The CNPI investigated four specific sub dimensions in the nurse-patient relationship, like clinical, relational care, humanistic care and comforting care.
Results
A total of 306 Italian oncology nurses were enrolled. Significant differences were recorded in all four sub dimensions of the CNPI since males reported higher levels than females in clinical (p = 0.006), relational (p = 0.010), humanistic (p = 0.047) and comforting care (p = 0.009) sub dimensions.
Conclusions
Future investigations on individual characteristics which probably influence nurses’ caring attitudes will be considered, like personality traits, personal priorities, and commitment, beyond individual characteristics, as: conscience, spiritual beliefs, personal philosophy and altruism predisposition, a sense of duty.
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