Nurses’ Practical Wisdom for the Support of Dementia Patients Among Hospital Outpatients

PURPOSE: To establish and understand nurses’ practical wisdom and interventions of support for dementia and possible dementia patients at hospital outpatient wards.

METHODS: A qualitative design was used to collect data through semi-structured focus group interviews. The participants were 13 female nurses working at hospital outpatient wards. Data were analyzed using the KJ Method.

RESULTS: Seven themes symbolizing the properties of the final label were extracted as follows: ‘Observation of patients with focused awareness, and are continuously engaged with their patients’, ‘Approach to the problems of the patients, and sensitively work to understand the worries of patients based on past cases of problems’, ‘Looking out for simple ways patients can look after themselves, implicitly and thoroughly, making the best use of the ways that patients are familiar with and which they are able to understand’, ‘Preparations for scheduled consultations by developing a network to assist with problem prevention and recording episodes about problems involving the patients’, ‘Requests for cooperation to continue treatment by choosing intermediaries/resources appropriately as based on the importance of the medical treatment’, ‘Responses that do not conflict with the feelings of the family by considering the possible reluctance of accepting that a family member has dementia’, and ‘Attitude not to blame matters on dementia by reflecting on how the environment and care ought to be’.

CONCLUSION: Nurses’ practical wisdom is a type of support provided for patients in a natural manner without being noticed as special or particular by the patients.