The relationships among nursing vigilance by nurses, patient satisfaction with nursing vigilance, and patient length of stay in a surgical cardiac care unit

This investigation had two purposes. The first purpose was to compare Surgical Cardiac Care Registered Nurses (RNs) and Cardiac Surgical Patients (Pts) perceptions of nursing vigilance. The second purpose was to identify and describe the relationships among the following four variables: Pts perceptions of nursing vigilance frequency and importance, Pts satisfaction with nursing vigilance, and Pts length of stay (LOS) in a SCCU. This combined comparative, descriptive correlational study was based on the Neuman Systems Model (Neuman, 2002) with a convenience sample of RNs (N = 68) and Pts ( N = 65).;RNs and Pts completed the Nursing Vigilance Scale: RN and the Nursing Vigilance and Satisfaction Scale: Patient, respectively. Review of the patient hospital record was conducted to retrieve data on LOS and other variables, and a modification of Miller's (1998) Cardiac Surgical Length of Stay tool was used to control for extraneous variables.;Statistically significant group differences were found between nurse and patient perceptions of nursing vigilance mean scores (t = 4.21, df = 91, p < .001) and the nursing vigilance sub-scale knowing the patient for pattern recognition ( t = 9.84, df = 105, p < .001). These findings indicate that RNs scored their vigilance significantly higher than Pts did and support the need for making known the "knowledgeable caregiving" (Buresh & Gordon, 2000) that critical care nurses provide. No significant relationships between patient perceptions of nursing vigilance frequency and importance, patient satisfaction with nursing vigilance, and patient LOS in a SCCU were found.;The findings of this study provide empirical support for the importance of nursing vigilance in nursing praxis. Nurse educators and practitioners are challenged to evaluate the implementation of nursing vigilance. Recommendations for future research include further psychometric development of the newly developed nursing vigilance instrumentation, replications of the study with modifications, and an exploration of nursing vigilance in practice using different outcome measures. Further nursing vigilance research is encouraged.