Nurses' perspectives on shared decision-making in the daily care of hospitalized patients with dementia: An exploratory qualitative study.

AIM: Gain insight into the process of shared decision-making (SDM) in daily hospital care for patients with dementia from nurses' perspectives.

DESIGN: Explorative qualitative design.

METHODS: In-depth digital interviews were conducted with 14 registered nurses between June and November 2022. A phenomenological approach was applied using Colaizzi's seven-step method.

RESULTS: Five themes were identified in the data: (1) SDM in daily care: How shared decision-making is applied; (2) Nurses' perceptions and competence: How nurses perceive and manage SDM; (3) Nurses' roles and advocacy: The evolving roles of nurses and their advocacy efforts, (4) Recognition of dementia and its impact: How nurses recognize and manage dementia; and (5) Interventions to support SDM: Strategies and interventions to facilitate SDM.

CONCLUSION: This study highlights the complexity of SDM in patients with dementia. It demonstrates the importance of the involvement of relatives, omission of patient goals in discussions and perceived deficiencies of nurses. The early identification of dementia, evaluation of nuanced capacity and targeted communication are essential. Further research and enhanced training are required to improve care in this context.

IMPACT: Potential areas for further research on SDM in nurses involving patients with dementia include investigating the effects of integrating goal discussions into SDM training for nurses, overcoming barriers to SDM competence, and challenging the idea that SDM is solely the responsibility of physicians. These findings highlight the need for policies that encourage interdisciplinary collaboration, address misconceptions and recommend training programmes that focus on applying SDM to the daily care of patients with dementia, thereby improving the overall quality of patient care.

REPORTING METHOD: The Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) checklist was used for reporting.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: No patient or public contribution.