Aims and objectives: To explore, using the example of a project working with older people in an outpatient setting in a large UK NHS Teaching hospital, how the constructs of Person Centred Nursing are reflected in interviews from participants in a Co-design led service improvement project.
Background: Person Centred Care and Person Centred Nursing are recognised terms in healthcare. Co-design (sometimes called participatory design) is an approach that seeks to involve all stakeholders in a creative process to deliver the best result, be this a product, technology or in this case a service. Co-design practice shares some of the underpinning philosophy of Person Centred Nursing and potentially has methods to aid in Person Centred Nursing implementation.
Research design: The research design was a qualitative secondary Directed analysis.
Methods: Seven interview transcripts from nurses and older people who had participated in a Co-design led improvement project in a large teaching hospital were transcribed and analysed. Two researchers analysed the transcripts for codes derived from McCormack & McCance's Person Centred Nursing Framework.
Results: The four most expressed codes were as follows: from the pre-requisites: knowing self; from care processes, engagement, working with patient's beliefs and values and shared Decision-making; and from Expected outcomes, involvement in care. This study describes the Co-design theory and practice that the participants responded to in the interviews and look at how the co-design activity facilitated elements of the Person Centred Nursing framework.
Conclusions: This study adds to the rich literature about using emancipatory and transformational approaches to Person Centred Nursing development, and is the first study exploring explicitly the potential contribution of Co-design to this area.
Implications for practice: Methods from Co-design allow older people to contribute as equals in a practice development project, co-design methods can facilitate nursing staff to engage meaningfully with older participants and develop a shared understanding and goals. The co-produced outputs of Co-design projects embody and value the expressed beliefs and values of staff and older people.
Keywords: Person Centred Nursing; co-design; older people; participatory design; participatory methods; service improvement.
© 2016 The Authors. Journal of Clinical Nursing Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.