Hospice la Cima, Center for Palliative Medicine, El Salvador.
Hospice la Cima, Center for Palliative Medicine, El Salvador.
Int J Med Inform. 2022 Oct;166:104857. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2022.104857. Epub 2022 Aug 17.
Family members significantly value the professional and humane support that medical teams provide in the process of caring for patients with advanced diseases. Communication is currently changing, making it of interest to explore technology's possible influence on communication and on the care relationship. It remains unknown whether this can vary based on increased use of technology in patient care. Using communication technologies can facilitate recognition of professional support through the expression of gratitude aimed at healthcare professionals. The objective here is to describe expressions of gratitude sent via WhatsApp messages by patients who receive treatment from a palliative care team and their relatives.
A generic qualitative methodology was used. The palliative care service studied used WhatsApp in the patient/family-professional relationship. A content analysis of 130 WhatsApp messages sent to the professionals and containing expressions of gratitude was carried out. Two researchers inductively performed the analysis. Analysis included aspects for which senders were most grateful and others, such as who the messages came from, whether they were reactive or spontaneous and to whom they were directed.
Almost all of the patients treated transmitted their gratitude via WhatsApp. It was also observed that family members were most grateful for features of the care received (i.e., affection, availability), the professional's support (i.e., accompaniment, comfort) and the professional's qualities (i.e., professionalism, kindness). They also appreciated symptom control and attempts to resignify loss; these aspects received the most expressions of gratitude in the messages. In turn, all the messages contain expressions of support for palliative care professionals, evidencing a patient/family-professional relationship.
The use of communication technologies like WhatsApp can contribute to the perception of professionals' availability and closeness and become a facilitator of expressions of gratitude that specify the aspects that family members most appreciate from the palliative care team, such as skills related to humane care and availability.
在照顾晚期疾病患者的过程中，患者家属非常重视医疗团队提供的专业和人道支持。沟通方式正在发生变化，因此探索技术对沟通和护理关系的可能影响很有意义。目前尚不清楚这种影响是否会因患者护理中更多地使用技术而有所不同。使用通信技术可以通过表达对医疗保健专业人员的感激之情来促进对专业支持的认可。本研究旨在描述通过 WhatsApp 消息表达的来自接受姑息治疗团队治疗的患者及其家属的感激之情。
采用通用定性方法。研究中的姑息治疗服务在患者/家庭-专业人员关系中使用了 WhatsApp。对发送给专业人员的 130 条包含感激之情的 WhatsApp 消息进行了内容分析。两名研究人员进行了归纳分析。分析包括发送者最感激的方面以及其他方面，例如消息来自谁、它们是反应性的还是自发的以及它们指向谁。
几乎所有接受治疗的患者都通过 WhatsApp 传达了他们的感激之情。还观察到，家属最感激的是所接受的护理特征（即关爱、可用性）、专业人员的支持（即陪伴、安慰）和专业人员的素质（即专业精神、善良）。他们还赞赏症状控制和重新赋予失去意义的尝试；这些方面在消息中收到了最多的感激之情。反过来，所有消息都表达了对姑息治疗专业人员的支持，证明了患者/家庭-专业人员关系。
像 WhatsApp 这样的通信技术的使用可以帮助专业人员感知可用性和亲近性，并成为表达感激之情的促进者，这些感激之情明确了家属从姑息治疗团队最欣赏的方面，例如与人道关怀和可用性相关的技能。
