Developing an instrument to measure patient satisfaction with nursing care in Greece

Aim: The main purpose of this study was to develop a reliable and valid instrument to measure patient satisfaction with nursing care. Background: The interest in patient satisfaction is intense but there is an absence of instruments with proper psychometric properties. Methods: A methodological exploratory design was employed with three phases: content development and critique, pilot study (N = 15) and final tryout (Í = 103). Findings: The reliability coefficient for the whole scale was high (α = 0,94). An exploratory factor analysis revealed six factors, explaining 68.8% of the variability. The first three factors referred to interpersonal relationships and available time, technical competence and response, and information. The qualitative data facilitated the interpretation of the quantitative data, increased the validity of the scale and gave useful information for improvements. Conclusions: Overall, the psychometric properties of the instruments were satisfactory but there is a need for continuous evaluation and verification of other studies

Patient satisfaction: A key concept for evaluating and improving nursing services

Aims: The main purpose of this review was to explore the meaning of patient satisfaction and present the theoretical background and the definitions which developed in nursing. Background: Today, there is an increasing interest in patient satisfaction which is considered a valid indicator of the quality of care. Origins of information: An extensive literature review was performed by using the MEDLINE database. Data analysis: Data was classified and analysed by using the content analysis approach. Key issues: The principal finding of this review was the lack of attention to the meaning of patient satisfaction, the development of theoretical frameworks and the psychometric properties of the developed instruments. Conclusions: Nurses need to develop valid and reliable instruments to measure patient satisfaction in order to improve the quality of care and make their work visible

Nursing Manpower Development and Strategic Planning in Greece

Purpose: A national study to register all working nursing personnel and nursing students; to estimate the nursing needs of the Greek population beyond the year 2000; to design a nursing resource master plan for the nursing needs of Greece. Design: First, a questionnaire was distributed to register all nursing personnel. Second, required personnel were estimated according to the population of each of the country's regions. Third, a master plan for developing nursing personnel to the year 2010 was developed. Results: The number of nursing personnel was found to be 35,715 which included 11,497 RNs and health visitors, 22,318 assistant nurses, 1,900 midwives. The number of students was 9,252. The majority of nursing personnel work in areas with the highest population. The need for nursing personnel was estimated to be 62,000: 36,300 RNs, 21,700 assistant nurses and 4,000 midwives. Conclusions: There is a serious shortage of RNs in the Greek health services resulting in a downgrading of nursing care quality

Allocation of nursing time

The purpose of the study was to examine the allocation of nursing time to various activities of registered and assistant nurses during the day shift. Twenty-three registered (RN) and eighteen assistant nurses (AN) working in medical and surgical wards of five large hospitals were studied. The findings have shown that the most frequent activities performed were: indirect care representing 35.6% of the time, direct care representing 23.8% of the time, personal activities representing 16.8% of the time, and direct nursing interventions representing 8.2% of the time. Cross-tabulation revealed that RNs provided direct care less frequently and indirect care more frequently than ANs (25.3 activities per RN and 27.5 per AN, 62.1 activities per RN and 32.6 per AN, respectively). Many indirect care activities were found to be the responsibility of the head nurse (64), secretary (465), and others (104). Less expected results were the minimal amounts of time spent on both education and research activities (1.3% and 0.0% respectively). Nurse managers have to free nurses from subsidiary work and to find mechanisms to distribute nursing valuable time more efficiently

The Prevalence of Urinary Tract Infection in Patients Related to Type of Drainage Bag

ABSTRACT. The prevalence of urinary tract infection in patients catheterised inside the hospital was studied in relation to the type of drainage bag used. Five hundred and thirty‐two adult patients of both sexes were studied in three groups consisting of (1) open drainage system with an infection incidence of 38.9%; (2) closed system with 25.1%; and (3) the closed system plus the addition of chlorhexidine with 15% infection. The overall incidence of infection was 29.8%. There was a statistically significant difference between the first and the second group (p<0.01), the first and the third group (p<0.01), but none between the second and third groups (p>0.01). The incidence was higher in women than in men (p<0.01), but only in the age group ≥60 (p<0.01). The index of medical patients was significantly higher than in urological patients (p<0.05), while there was no statistical significance between surgical and urological patients (p>0.1). The highest prevalence of infection in the three groups occurred on the seventh day. Gram‐negative bacteria were 63.3%, Gram‐positive 10.1% and fungi 26.6%. © 1988 Nordic College of Caring Science

Laser Nanostructuring for Diffraction Grating Based Surface Plasmon-Resonance Sensors

The surface plasmon resonance properties of highly regular laser-induced periodic surface structures (HR-LIPSSs) on Si, functionalized with Au nanoparticles (NPs), were investigated. In particular, the spectral dependencies of polarized light reflectance at various angles of incidence were measured and discussed. It is found that the deposition of Au NPs on such periodically textured substrates leads to significant enhancement of the plasmon resonance properties, compared to that measured on planar ones. This effect can be used to improve the efficiency of localized-plasmon-resonance-based sensors