In the current healthcare delivery system, one of the most important roles of nurses is to educate the patient & their family members/caregivers. Today, nurses assume more and more responsibilities for educating patients and helping them/their relatives to become responsible for their own health status. However, imparting education to each individual level by understanding their needs is very challenging. The entire teaching process requires a wide range of knowledge and skills of nurses which intern motivates learners to carry out the required care for their loved ones.

CCP is considered one of the best tools to interact with the patient relative(s) and to improve the overall satisfaction of nursing Services. It aims to empower the caregivers of high risk patients with the skills they need to take better care of their loved ones back at home. On admission, the patient’s main caregiver is identified and offered the chance to enroll in the program.

Need of the Study:

Since, NH Narayana unit at Guwahati is a Superspeciality Hospital, we realized that care companion of patient needs vigorous training to take care of their patient at home after discharge. Hence, CARE COMPANION PROGRAM (CCP), a tool for quality improvement of nursing services was adopted.

Aim of the Study:

To determine overall efficacy of ‘Care Companion Program’ at NH Hospital, Guwahati, Assam.

Objectives:

• Identify the learning needs of care companion who intern will take care of their patient after discharge.
• Train care companion/relatives by using various teaching methods.
• Obtain important feedback about the training program and overall nursing services in the hospital.

Methodology:

Study Setting: NH Narayana Superspeciality Hospital, Guwahati

Period: June to October, 2016.

Sample No: 300

Sampling Technique: Convenient sampling

Data Collection Tool: Patient feedback forms & nursing service categories were captured.

Nursing service category comprises of:

• First assessment conducted by the nursing staff immediately after admission.
• Explained about the procedure to be performed.
• Was courteous & friendly during interaction.
• Was prompt & quick in doing the task.

Analysis of the Data:

Figure-1: Patient Satisfaction Index (Before CCP)

Interpretation:

Problem associated with level of satisfaction of nursing care was more prominent related to ‘Explained about the procedure to be performed’ by nursing staff (see figure– 1).  Therefore, it is clear that importance of training needs of care companion were not identified as well as they did not get learning opportunity to how they have taken care of their loved one at home.

Variation related to program were due to:

• Lack of specific schedule for CCP training.
• Lack of dedicated nursing trainer for CCP.
• Lack of supervision of training program.
• Lack of audit/reinforcement.

Selected Intervention:

• Identified a dedicated nursing team for CCP training.
• Prepared various topics for training as CD/video clips in three different languages.
• Scheduled weekly (every Saturday) for CCP training covering maximum in-patient relatives in conference room apart from daily teaching activities near bedsides.
• A web portal developed for data capturing of training program (includes pt/relative name with MRN No & Phone number).

Implemented the program (nov, 2016 to april, 2017):

• Regular interaction & training to care companions of admitted patients were established.
• Periodic discussions were held between CCP team members for selection and development of new topics for training.
• Care Companion feedback for further improvements of the program were taken.

Result:

Figure-2: Patient Satisfaction Index (After CCP)

Conclusion:

Patient education is become a patient’s rights now a days and nurses need to put extra ordinary effort to fulfill this need. Care Companion Program(CCP) in hospital can surely add value in improving health related knowledge which would reflects better quality of life at large scale. CCP can result in increased quality of nursing care, while reducing hospital staffing requirements, reduce average length of stay of admitted patient & provide scalable solution for sustaining healthcare organization. Consistency in providing of CCP training to maximize the benefits of patient’s relatives and periodic evaluation of patient satisfaction index is crucial.

Author:

1. Ms. Pinaki Bayan (Nursing Superintendent, Narayana Superspeciality Hospital, Guwahati)

2. Ms. Oinam Vidyalakshmi (Quality Nurse, Narayana Superspeciality Hospital, Guwahati)

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