RELATIONSHIP OF EXPERTISE TO VIEWS OF QUALITY OF NURSING CARE FOR HOSPITALIZED PRENATAL WOMEN.
Contributors: University of Michigan.
Published: 1988
Number of pages: 293
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: Nurses' and patients' views of quality of nursing were explored within a theoretical background of the cognitive aspects of expertise. Nurses (n = 171) and patients (n = 259) rated the importance of nursing activities to quality of care for hospitalized, prenatal women. Dimensions of quality were extracted from a rating scale of nursing activities. Expertise was represented by education and experience for nurses, and education, pregnancy and hospitalization experience for patients.

The dimensions of quality found are a central finding of the study. The first dimension, Enabling Functions (alpha =.94) includes activities which enhance the patient's competence in coping with pregnancy complications. The second dimension, Technical Functions (alpha =.73) consists of basic technical skills in nursing practice. The third dimension, Environment (Spearman-Brown =.80) reflects the patients' immediate physical environment.

Nurses valued Enabling Functions more than did patients; patients valued Environment more than did nurses. Both groups rated Technical Functions as the most important dimension.

The most important finding among nurses was the relationship between self-perceived proficiency and greater importance for all dimensions of quality. Experience and increased preferences for high risk patients were also associated with more importance for the dimensions.

For patients, social characteristics, rather than maternity experiences, were associated with increased importance for the dimensions.

A relationship between expertise and views of quality of care was concluded, based on differences found between nurses and patients and among nurses. The study is important to the measurement of quality by demonstrating that perceptions of quality can differ systematically among experts and non-experts.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-12, Section: B, page: 5226.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, 1988.

School code: 0127.