PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Kira Scheerman
AU  - Joram W. Mesters
AU  - Jay N. Borger
AU  - Carel G. M. Meskers
AU  - Andrea B. Maier
TI  - Tasks and responsibilities in physical activity promotion of older patients during hospitalization: A nurse perspective
AID  - 10.1101/482976
DP  - 2018 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 482976
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/11/29/482976.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/11/29/482976.full
AB  - Objective To investigate how nurses perceive tasks and responsibilities in promoting physical activity during hospitalization of older patients and which factors are of influence.Design Observational cohort studySetting and participants One hundred and eight nurse students, nurses and nurse supervisors employed by an academic Dutch teaching hospital participated in a questionnaire survey and 51 nurses took part in a subsequent in-depth interview.Measures Data were collected on tasks and responsibilities in physical activity promotion and their influencing factors as perceived by nurses. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data from the questionnaire survey and a deductive approach with directed content analysis was used for the data from the interviews.Results Nurses perceived to have a dominant role in physical activity promotion of older patients during hospitalization. Ninety percent of the nurses stated to be responsible for physical activity promotion and 32 percent stated to be satisfied with the actual level of physical activity of their patients. Influencing factors were low patient motivation, high workload causing priority shifts of tasks and the role of physicians.Conclusion Although their perceived dominant role in physical activity promotion, nurses identified a number of barriers interfering with actual level of physical activity. Improvement strategies should involve physicians, patients and carers.