Humanistic Care Needs of Hospitalised Patients With Diabetic Foot Ulcers: A Qualitative Descriptive Study From the Nurse-Patient Perspective.

Diabetic foot ulcer care extends beyond wound management alone, yet the humanistic care needs of hospitalised patients with diabetic foot ulcers remain insufficiently understood in clinical practice. This qualitative descriptive study explored these needs from a nurse-patient perspective to inform more responsive humanistic nursing care. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 12 hospitalised patients with diabetic foot ulcers and 13 nurses involved in the care of patients with diabetic foot ulcers from a tertiary Grade A hospital in Wuhan, China. Individual semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted between July and August 2023, and data were analysed using thematic content analysis. Three interrelated themes were identified across the two participant groups: (1) need for a humanistic care environment, (2) need for nurses' humanistic care competencies, and (3) need for humanistic nursing support. Although patients and nurses shared many concerns, they differed in emphasis. Nurses focused more on safety, clinical judgement and on-going support, whereas patients more often highlighted lived suffering, dignity, emotional reassurance and practical needs during hospitalisation and beyond. These findings suggest that humanistic care is a core component of care for hospitalised patients with diabetic foot ulcers rather than an adjunct to wound treatment, and should be more systematically considered in efforts to strengthen person-centred diabetic foot ulcer care.