Elsa Vitale1, Maria Pia Giammarinaro2, Roberto Lupo3, Valeria Archetta4, Rosa Silvia Fortunato5, Cosimo Caldararo6, Francesco Germini7. 1. Department of Mental Health, Local Health Authority Bari, Italy. vitaleelsa@libero.it. 2. Bed Management, Arnas Civico, Palermo, Italy. mariapiagiammarinaro@gmail.com. 3. San Giuseppe da Copertino hospital, Lecce, Italy. roberto.lupo@uniba.it. 4. Borgo San Nicola Penitentiary Institute, Lecce, Italy. archettavaleria@hotmail.it. 5. Department of Mental Health, Local Healthcare Company Bologna, Italy. silviafortunato.19@gmail.com. 6. University of Bari, Lecce headquartes, Italy. cosimo.caldararo@uniba.it. 7. Direction of Health Professions, Local Healthcare Company Bari, Italy. germini@email.it.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE WORK: Therapeutic communication is essential for assessing the quality of care of patients. The present study aimed how the forced use of the mask influenced the communication before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. METHODS: An online questionnaire was administered including two socio-demographic items, such as sex, as male and female, and role, as nurse or patient, and the Quality of Communication Questionnaire (QOC) for twice, referring to the period before during the pandemic. RESULTS: 178 subjects participated in the study, of which 60 (33.7%) were patients and 118 (66.3%) were nurses. During the pandemic, patients reported no significant differences in the perception of the quality of nurse-patient communication. While nurses recorded a lower perception of communication quality during the pandemic period than before. CONCLUSIONS: It emerged an urgent need to support the nursing activity from an organizational point of view, with less work overload, and psychological, with forms of help so that nurses could feel supported in the work fatigue, trying to give the best of himself.
BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE WORK: Therapeutic communication is essential for assessing the quality of care of patients. The present study aimed how the forced use of the mask influenced the communication before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. METHODS: An online questionnaire was administered including two socio-demographic items, such as sex, as male and female, and role, as nurse or patient, and the Quality of Communication Questionnaire (QOC) for twice, referring to the period before during the pandemic. RESULTS: 178 subjects participated in the study, of which 60 (33.7%) were patients and 118 (66.3%) were nurses. During the pandemic, patients reported no significant differences in the perception of the quality of nurse-patient communication. While nurses recorded a lower perception of communication quality during the pandemic period than before. CONCLUSIONS: It emerged an urgent need to support the nursing activity from an organizational point of view, with less work overload, and psychological, with forms of help so that nurses could feel supported in the work fatigue, trying to give the best of himself.