Nurses’ Viewpoint: The quality of nursing care Download PDF

Introduction: The main and ultimate purpose of nursing services is to provide high-quality care to patients. Studies show that health service provider organizations across the world are faced with the challenge of providing high-quality nursing care. Nurses’ perspective can be a valid indicator of the quality of nursing care. This study was conducted to determine nurses’ perspective on the quality of nursing care. Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 172 nurses employed in hospitals affiliated to Isfahan University of Medical Sciences selected through systematic random sampling. The data collection tool was the Quality Patient Care Scale (QUALPAC), which was completed by the nurses. The data obtained were analyzed in SPSS-16 using descriptive and inferential (the independent t-test, the ANOVA and Pearson’s correlation coefficient) statistics for the demographic variables and the quality of care. Results: The nurses had a mean age of 33.12±6.8. A total of 90.8% were female and 66.5% were married. The nurses’ mean work experience was 9.21±6.4 years, and 93.1% of them had a bachelor’s degree in nursing. According to the findings, the nurses had a positive assessment of the quality of nursing care in all its three dimensions, namely psychosocial, physical and communication dimensions. A significant relationship was observed between the score of the quality of nursing care in all three dimensions and the variables of the ward of service and the nurse’s gender. Discussion: The nurses assessed in this research rated the quality of nursing care as positive in all the three dimensions examined, namely psychosocial, physical and communication dimensions. Nonetheless, this positive assessment by nurses as primary health care providers can itself be a barrier to the improvement and modification of the quality of nursing care.