Clinical Effectiveness of Nursing Care Delivery Models for Patients Following Hip Elective Surgery: Comparative Study

Background and Objective: A shortage of health workers significantly impacts nurse staffing, nursing care and patients’ clinical outcomes. The study aimed to compare two clinical nursing care delivery models by investigating patients’ perceptions of nurse caring behaviors and patient satisfaction. Materials and Methods: Clinical data of patients admitted for elective hip surgery in the orthopedics trauma and microsurgery department between January and September, 2019 and 2022 were prospectively collected and retrospectively analyzed. The sample was composed of 64 and 49 patients for the pre and peri-pandemic periods, respectively. In each period, patients were randomized into primary nursing care (PNC) and team nursing care (TNC) groups. Various tools were used including Caring Behaviors Inventory-24 (CBI-24) and patient satisfaction index (PSI) for data collection. All patients were followed up for three months. Results: Before the pandemic, the overall mean score on CBI-24 patients was 4.97 and 4.84 for PNC and TNC, respectively. Their corresponding values PSI scores were 4.29 and 4.30, respectively. During the peri-pandemic period, PNC patients recorded 4.71 and 4.23, on CBI-24 patients and PSI, respectively and TNC patients recorded 4.96 and 4.05 on CBI-24 and PSI, respectively. Findings suggested significant correlation between CBI-24 and PSI within each group and at a specific study period. Better satisfaction is associated with the quality of caring behaviors and technical caring behaviors for patients in the PNC and TNC groups, respectively. Conclusion: However, in consideration of patients’ diverse expectations and perceptions of care, nurse managers are called to take into consideration different factors (nurse, patient and institution-related factors) provide satisfied and high-quality care.