Promoting person‐centred care in the perioperative setting through patient advocacy: An observational study

Aims and objectives To examine the extent to which the findings from an integrative review regarding perioperative patient advocacy could be empirically supported, and to describe Swedish registered nurse anaesthetists’ patient advocacy actions and interactions during the perioperative period. Background Patient advocacy is practiced by various healthcare professionals in promoting the well‐being of patients. It is complex, and in a general healthcare context, it has been described as supporting the patients both physiologically and psychologically. During general anaesthesia, the patient enters an unconscious state, and the registered nurse anaesthetist safeguards patient privacy and autonomy. Design Qualitative descriptive. Methods Individual, nonparticipant observations ( n  =   16) with eight registered nurse anaesthetists. The observer followed the nurses unobtrusively by shadowing them during the perioperative phase on two separate occasions. The analysis was conducted with a directed content analysis in the light of four predetermined categories, identified in a previous integrative review of patient advocacy in the perioperative setting: protecting , value preserving , supporting and informing . Results The predetermined categories were empirically supported. They were further refined by identifying 11 new subcategories leading to a conceptual extension of the theoretical frame. The registered nurse anaesthetists interacted with the patient and all members of the surgical team when practicing perioperative patient advocacy and the actions were mostly initiated by the registered nurse anaesthetists themselves. Conclusions The findings offer a new insight into the registered nurse anaesthetist's professional role. The observations deepen the understanding of the registered nurse anaesthetists’ perioperative patient advocacy actions and can contribute to a more reflective and theory‐oriented view of practice. Relevance to clinical practice The results from this study could be used to help registered nurse anaesthetists and their students understand practice in a more complete and insightful way.