Do nurses know what patients think is important in nursing care?

Area of Science:

• Nursing Care Quality
• Patient Expectations
• Healthcare Research

Background:

• Effective nursing care hinges on understanding patient expectations.
• Prior research often used provider-centric tools, not reflecting patient perspectives.
• A validated instrument is needed to capture patient views on care quality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare patient-ranked expectations with nurses' perceptions of those expectations.
• To identify discrepancies in how nurses and patients value aspects of nursing care.
• To inform nursing practice by highlighting areas of underestimation.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the 90-item Patient's Perception of Quality Scale-Acute Care Version.
• Collected data from 448 patients and 350 nurses across seven hospitals' medical-surgical units.
• Patients ranked items from their perspective; nurses ranked items based on perceived patient priorities.

Main Results:

• A high similarity was found in the rank order of items between patients and nurses.
• Nurses consistently underestimated the importance patients placed on most elements of quality nursing care.
• Significant gaps exist in nurses' understanding of patient-valued care aspects.

Conclusions:

• Nurses' perceptions of patient expectations for quality care require improvement.
• Addressing these underestimations can enhance the delivery of patient-centered nursing care.
• Further research and training are needed to align nursing practice with patient priorities.