El empleo del tacto como forma de comunicación del profesional de Enfermería

Resum

Objective: To analyse how nurses’ tactile behaviour is influenced by certain human factors such as age, sex, and touching habits in the family environment or in social relationships. Method: This is a descriptive, transversal study, performed in the five public hospitals of the Andalusian Health Service in the province of Cádiz. Data were collected using questionnaires filled out by the participants themselves. These questionnaires were distributed at random to the 710 selected healthcare professionals and stratified according to hospitals and services. Results: Response rate was 85%. Of the professional nurses who completed the poll, 73,2% were women and 26,6% were men. Respondents were between 23 and 64 years old. A large number of professionals said that they were hardly or never touched in their adolescence, and this led to little touching both in their family and in their social relationships and their relationships with patients. There were important differences between the areas touched most by the professionals in their social relationships and with the patients. Patient touching was most extensive with the hands, arms and legs. When touching a patient, the main aim was to transmit affection, safety and comprehension. Old people and children where touched more often. Seriously ill patients conscious of their condition tended to be touched more than slightly ill patients, those in coma or those with infectious diseases.