2008 Winner

Applicant:

Lourdes  Marie S. Tejero, PhD
Assistant Professor
College of Nursing
University of the Philippines
Manila, Philippines

Abstract:

The patient’s sense of well-being, specifically that of the terminally ill, is facilitated through the interaction between nurse and patient. The nurse and patient are no longer separate entities during the interaction, but a dyad.

In this study, the different nurse-patient dyads that the investigator delineated in the preliminary studies will be incorporated in the Synergy Model developed by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.

In between the patient/nurse characteristics and outcomes of care, it is posited that the synergy is actualized in the nurse-patient dyad. The outcomes ensue not from the characteristics of the nurse and patient per se but from the nurse-patient interaction. The nurse-patient interaction as conceptualized in this study is an interplay of two factors, openness and engagement.  By openness is meant the willingness of the individual to manifest his/her own self, her personal characteristics, to the other. Engagement on the other hand entails action, participation, involvement in the interaction. Therapeutic interactions are characterized by high openness and high engagement between the nurse and patient.  If the interaction is therapeutic, then the desired outcomes will be realized.

The main goal of the study is to test the proposed theory asserting that the nurse-patient dyad mediates between nurse-patient characteristics and outcomes.

This research paper will be utilizing methods triangulation. Both quantitative and qualitative techniques will be employed to describe the phenomenon of the nurse-patient dyad. The research will be done in selected units of the Philippine General Hospital and in another tertiary hospital.