Predictors of Healthcare Workers’ Compassionate Care Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study from Patients’ Perspective in Kelantan, Malaysia

Abstract

Background: Compassionate care served by healthcare workers (HCWs) has been recognized as one of the most critical aspects of high-quality care. Unfortunately, there is still an unmet need for the assessment of compassionate care from the patient’s perspective. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many new rules were enacted to tackle the raging pandemic, which raised concerns about its effect on compassionate care. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 315 patients from three public hospitals was conducted during the conditional movement control order (CMCO). A self-administered Malay version of the Relational Aspect of Care Questionnaire (RAC-QM) was used to assess compassionate care. Multiple linear regression was used to determine the predictors. Results: More than 90% of the patients were Malays, Muslims, and fell under the B40 household income category. Companions were present for 51.7% of the patients, but 75.2% had no visitors. All hospitals received scores of more than 90%. Occupation (student, p = 0.032), dependency level (total dependent, p < 0.001), and household income level (M40, p = 0.027) were the statistically significant predictors for compassionate care. Conclusions: The current study revealed that compassionate care to patients was not compromised during the pandemic. Patients with disabilities or financial constraints are more likely to experience less compassionate care, while students are generally more satisfied. This study may provide clues for hospital administrators and policymakers regarding the vulnerable group of patients. It also provides opportunities for future research to study the perspective of HCWs.

Compassionate care of nurses for the elderly admitted to the COVID-19 wards in teaching hospitals of southern Iran

“…According to the study participants’ views, sense of psychological security is essential for providing compassionate care, since compassion fatigue and burnout would affect the provision of compassionate care and quality of nursing care [ 23 ]. The patients in the study by Noor et al stated that the period of COVID-19 pandemic had not affected compassionate care of nurses; even with restrictions on visits and strict regulations for care providers, most patients claimed that they had not been affected by changes in healthcare policies of the COVID-10 pandemic period [ 24 ]. The results of another study showed that during COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare staff provided care for patients with complete personal protective equipment including gown, gloves, face shield, and mask, and only the eyes of healthcare staff could be seen from below the mask or their glasses.…”