A strategy for surveying nursing practice in institutional settings

Area of Science:

• Nursing Research
• Healthcare Surveys
• Methodology

Background:

• Surveying nursing practice in institutions faces challenges in achieving representative samples and cost-effectiveness.
• Previous methods for sampling critical-care nurses are reviewed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate a two-stage mail survey methodology for national sampling of critical-care nurses.
• To assess potential biases in nurse sampling methods.

Main Methods:

• A two-stage mail survey was conducted on a national sample of critical-care nurses.
• Stage one: Procured staff nurse lists from head nurses at 240 institutions (86% response rate).
• Stage two: Mailed questionnaires to 600 randomly selected nurses (87% completion rate).

Main Results:

• The two-stage survey achieved high response rates in both stages.
• Minimal evidence of sampling bias from administrative selection or volunteerism was observed.
• A significant portion of respondents would have been excluded if sampled via professional organization membership.

Conclusions:

• The described two-stage mail survey is an effective and efficient method for sampling critical-care nurses.
• This methodology helps mitigate biases inherent in other sampling techniques, such as using professional organization lists.
• Findings support the use of this approach for obtaining representative data on nursing practice.