Engaging Patients in Mutual Goal-Setting in Hospitalized Patients

Mutual goal setting and action planning in patients with long-term conditions in outpatient settings is associated with favorable effects on measures of physical health, psychological health, subjective health status, self-management self-efficacy levels, activation levels, and perceived empowerment. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of an educational intervention delivered to the staff nurses of two surgical units on how to engage patients in mutual goal-setting in the acute care setting. Staff nurses from two 32-bed surgical units will be scheduled to attend an hour-long educational intervention. A total of 630 chart audits will be conducted one month prior and one and three months following the intervention per unit, to examine the number of patients with a daily goal recorded in the prior 24 hours and the quality of the recorded goal using the SMART-GEM. The self-efficacy of engaging in mutual goal-setting with patients will be examined by asking nurses to complete the Appraisal Inventory Tool (AIT) prior to and immediately following the intervention. The patient experience of engaging in mutual goal-setting will be examined by having a total of 165 patients complete the Patient Experience of Mutual Goal-Setting Tool (PEMGST) one month prior to the intervention and one and three months following the intervention on each of the two units.