Comparison of Quality of Nursing Cares from the Perspective of Nurses and Patients

Quality is the most important issue in the field of healthcare services provision, especially the nursing field. Since one can never achieve an absolute level of quality, it is imperative to constantly review this issue. This study aimed to evaluate the quality of nursing care from the perspective of nurses and patients.

This descriptive-analytical study was performed on 210 hospitalized patients and 210 nurses working in Shahid Beheshti health care centers selected by convenience sampling in 2014. Data were collected using the valid and reliable 72-item questionnaire of QUALPACS nursing care competed by all nurses and patients. In addition, data analysis was performed in SPSS version 21 using independent t-test and Mann-Whitney U.

In this study, the mean age of the nurses and patients was 34.14 and 50.69 years, respectively. Moreover, 37.4% of patients and 84% of nurses considered the quality of nursing cares in the psychosocial dimension to be suitable. In addition, 38.8% of patients and 79% of nurses mentioned that nursing care quality was suitable in the physical dimension. Finally, 41.3% of patients and 68.5% of nurses considered the quality of nursing care in the communication dimension to be suitable. According to Mann-Whitney U results, there was a significant difference between the viewpoints of patients and nurses regarding the quality of nursing care (P<0.001).

According to the results of the study, patients and nurses had different perceptions and viewpoints about quality of care due to having various intellectual backgrounds and life experiences. Therefore, it is necessary to periodically reassess the quality standards of care with a client-centered approach.