Families as hospital care givers: A pilot in Turkey

Abstract

Objective: It is a common tradition that families as caregivers have been in the hospital in order to support patients. This study describes the services performed by family caregivers in surgical and medical wards of hospital.Methods: This is a descriptive study. The study includes 442 family caregivers selected by the simple random sampling, who agreed to participate in, and who have been providing care for their relatives at least 48 hours in a university hospital. Data were collected through a questionnaire conducted during face-to-face interviews and were analyzed by descriptive statistics methods.Results: It has been found out that family caregivers met almost all needs of hospitalized patients with their own will. The results show that family caregivers met the care needs of their hospitalized relatives mainly upon their own and patients’ will (relatively 51%, 22.9%). It has also been observed that some of these requirements were met upon doctors’ and nurses’ demands.Conclusions: It is important to know the requirements met by family caregivers at the hospital in terms of defining boundaries of care which can be provided by family caregivers and evaluating its results. Our findings could influence future plans of nursing managers, policy makers and/or health authorities.