Effects of clinical supervision on nurse-patient cooperation quality a controlled study in dementia care

An intervention consisting of Individualized planned care for patients and regular clinical systematic supervision for nurses was carried out on a ward for dementia care (the experimental ward, EW). On a similar control ward (CW), no changes were made. Observations of nurse-patient cooperation during morning care were collected at both wards, before and during the Intervention. The observations (N = 107) were analyzed blindly and sorted into already-developed categories. The distribution of the cooperation-style categories was then analyzed statistically. The patients who survived throughout the study period (N= 18) were also compared over time. Nurse-patientcooperation at the EW improved significantly during the intervention period, whereas, at the CW, it deteriorated (p = .02). Status of surviving patients followed the same pattern (p = .001). The findings indicate that such Interventions can improve the quality of nurse-patient cooperation In dementia care.