Testing a modified Swedish version of the Rush Medicus Nursing Process Quality Monitoring Instrument in short-term...

A modified Swedish version of the Rush Medicus Nursing Process Quality Monitoring Instrument (RMI-MSV) has been tested within surgical, medical and orthopedic units in a county hospital. Three units, one from each area, were randomized as experimental (E) units and three units as control (C) units. Two measurements, comprising 20 patients and five registered nurses in each unit, were carried out with an interval of 6 months. All the E units received feedback on the first measurement and one unit received special intervention concerning the main objective dealing with documentation. The E units tended to show greater improvements than the C units concerning most of the six main objectives included in the instrument. However, the objective dealing with documentation was the only one presenting a statistically significant greater improvement in E units compared with C units (p = 0.045). The effects obtained supported the evidence for validity of the RMI-MSV. The RMI-MSV was found to be sensitive to changes and appropriate for quality assessment. Further research is needed to develop non-situation-related factors which influence the quality of nursing care.