Integrating the Fundamentals of Care Framework Into Italian Nursing Education

Research has shown a gap in what is important to patients and what is important to nurses when providing care. When the patient's fundamental needs are not recognized, such as hygiene, nutrition, mobilization, communication, he feels humiliated, ignored. The study aims to improve patient outcomes by educational interventions to integrate the Fundamental of Care (FoC) framework into nursing education.

A multi-centre randomized controlled trial will be conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of integrating the FoC framework into nursing education. Outcomes perceived by patients and their families relate to meeting the fundamental care needs.

Background and Significance: Since 2010, to fill the gap in what is essential when providing care in a complex and challenging environment, both for patients and nurses, a line of research has developed to study the fundamental of nursing care. The "Fundamentals of Care (FoC) Frameworks" defines FoC as fundamental activities for the patient, through which the patient feels at the centre of care and feels attention and respect around him. The framework outlines three dimensions necessary for delivering high-quality fundamental care: the nurse-patient relationship; addressing different fundamental needs; and a context that supports these goals. A positive and trusting nurse-patient relationship is the basis for delivering fundamental care and forms the core of the framework.

FOCs are often implicit or invisible in nursing education, taught as an introductory part in the first year of the course and rarely addressed in subsequent years. The study aims to improve patient outcomes by educational interventions to integrate the FUNDAMENTAL OF CARE FRAMEWORK into nursing education.

Objectives: The substantive objectives of the study are: 1) To describe how nurses, internship preceptors, students and patients and their families perceive fundamental care; 2) Assessing learning process in developing FOC skills of nursing students; 3) Assessing nursing students perception of the learning environment and the supervision related to learning of FOC skills during the clinical internship; 4) Assessing the perceived outcomes of patients and their families related to meet the fundamental care needs.

Design: multi-centre randomized controlled trial

Sample: Students of nursing degree enrolled in the first year of the course, internship preceptors nurses who work in the internship departments of students enrolled in the first year of nursing degree, and patients over the age of 18, cognitively intact, assisted in the internship departments, who have the following three needs: (1) nutrition; (2) elimination; (3) personal hygiene will be included.

Measures: All outcomes will be measured with established criteria and with instruments used in previous studies or developed by the investigators and found validated and reliable.

Analysis: In addition to descriptive statistics, statistical tests to analyze differences in the scores between groups will be used to address the objectives.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

* All students of nursing degree enrolled in the first year of the course who will choose to participate in the study
* All internship preceptors nurses who work in the internship departments of students enrolled in the first year of nursing degree will choose to participate in the study.
* All patients over the age of 18 assisted in the internship departments who choose to participate in the study who have the following three needs: (1) nutrition; (2) elimination; (3) personal hygiene.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Patients who are unable to answer the questionnaire independently, with altered mental status, with hospitalization of fewer than 24 hours