Development Of Quality Indicators To Measure The Outcome Of Nursing Care In Beijing

Background Nurses, as the principal caregivers in any healthcare system, directly and profoundly affect the lives of patients and are critical to the quality of care patients receive. However, the nursing shortage, and changing technology, expansion of public health services, and higher patient expectations have produced a greater demand for care, mounted financial pressure, and limited nursing resources. Today's nurses practice in a constrained environment that tests the core of their contribution to quality. The literature shows considerable evidence of an association between hospital nurse staffing and patient outcomes across hospitals and countries with differently-organized and financed health care systems. However, controversy remains about the best measures of key variables to investigate the relationship.Purpose The purpose of this study is to develop and test quality indicators of measuring nursing outcome in a variety of clinical settings in Beijing.Design The study design included there phases. The first phase was to develop the questionnaire by using individual interviews and literature review. The second phase was to develop quality indicators by using the Delphi technique and focus group interviews. The third phase was to test applicabilityof the indicators in 12 hospitals.Results After two rounds of Delphi procedure, the opinion of the experts appeared consistent. The response rate was 88.5% at first round and 95.5% for the second round. The two categories and 7 subcategories indicators were defined including operational definitions and formulas.Conclusion The main content of the general hospital outcome quality indicator of nursing care is obtained. It emphasizes evaluate quality of nursing care from the patient's perspective rather than from a nurse's perspective. This preliminary study provided a basis for the further study for the relationship between nurse staff and patient outcomes.