Internal psychometric characteristics of the quality patient care scale

This study sought to clarify the subdimensions of the domain of quality nursing care as measured by the Quality Patient Care Scale. The care received by 269 surgical patients over a predetermined period was assessed by nonparticipant nurse observers using the methodology. The instrument contains six subscales. The data analyses showed them to be internally homogeneous and capable of providing reliable measurements. The unrotated first factor for each subscale is strong and items correlate with it and with the respective subscale totals. However, in the Psychosocial Individual, Physical, and General areas, enough clustering of items within subscales emerged to support the contention that there are several conceptually discrete, yet interdependent, sources of variation in each subdomain. The factor analyses identified the clustering of items, but, in the present exploratory mode of research, the ability to understand the apparent complexity of subdomains is limited. Future researchers should elaborate these complexities to determine if they represent consistent and discrete sources of variance that can be replicated and used to provide more accurate assessments. The subscales moderately intercorrelated, and evidenced discriminant validity.