Perceptions of nursing care quality, in acute hospital settings measured by the Karen instruments

The objectives of this study were to measure the quality of nursing care from the perspectives of patients and personnel and to compare these perspectives.

The perception of quality in nursing care is affected by patient needs and it is common that patients and personnel disagree on the nature of the quality. Thus, it is important to measure the quality from both perspectives.

A total of 95 patients and 120 personnel from surgical and medical wards at a hospital in Sweden participated. The Karen instruments were used for data collection. A scale index was used for comparison of the perspectives.

The patients and personnel were satisfied with the quality of care and there were no obvious differences in the total index. The different subscales indicated areas of lower care quality in need of improvement.

The quality of the care seemed to be satisfactory from the perspectives of both the patients and the personal. Further analysis from the subscale or a variable level is needed to define areas of lower care quality.

Measurements have to be carried out continuously to guarantee care quality over time, as a result of organisational changes and financial cutbacks.