Identifying and Meeting the Needs of Older People with Surgical Wounds. A Holistic Perspective
Associate Professor Daisy Michelle Princeton, Associate Professor Kathleen Finlayson, Professor Helen Edwards
Introduction
This paper focuses on the experiences of professionals when identifying and meeting the holistic needs of older people with surgical wounds. Identifying patient needs through applying one’s professional perspective and expertise is unproblematic. Identifying patients’ holistic needs and/or interconnected complex needs is still, however, a challenge. Professionals should see beyond their own professional caring interest to the care process as a whole (Hagen & Johnsen, 2013). Older people’s needs before, during and after surgery are complex and require coherent and consistent interventions in the community, hospitals and the nursing homes. Professionals’ abilities to identify and meet patient needs are therefore a crucial part of their everyday clinical practice. There is, however, a lack of awareness of how professionals determine and meet the holistic needs of older people with surgical wounds, in particular in collaborative work processes. Previous research shows professionals’ conceptualizations of holistic patient needs differ with disciplinary background, this leading to differences in focus and approach when identifying and meeting the holistic needs of patients (Princeton, Edwards, Finlayson, 2023). This affects the quality of the patient care they provide (ibid). This qualitative research endeavours to understand and theorise the world view of healthcare professionals as they perceive and live holistic professional practice. Theory, as a common ground for a coherent understanding of holistic patients’ needs, may improve interdisciplinary collaboration (Princeton et al, 2023) and the quality of holistic care.
Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/ijhs.v11n2a9
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