Friday, September 27, 2002: 1:15 PM-2:45 PM | |||
Nursing and Patient Outcomes Research: Canadian Perspectives | |||
| The purpose of this symposium is to discuss the relationships that have emerged in the study of outcomes research in the Canadian environment and present the results of several complementary research studies designed to evaluate linkages between nurse staffing and patient outcomes. The challenge of demonstrating the contribution of nurses has led many scholars to identify some outcomes as nurse-sensitive. These refer to outcomes for which individual nurses are held accountable and represent the consequences or effects of interventions delivered by nurses. The study of patient outcomes remains important to nursing and the health care sector, yet challenges with linking nurse staffing to specific outcomes of nursing care continue to confront the profession. This symposium fits within the “Health-Related Services and Systems Research” theme of the conference. In the first presentation in this symposium the results of a province-wide repeated measures study conducted in 19 hospitals in Ontario, Canada are outlined. The purpose of the study was to examine the impact of different nurse staffing models on the primary patient outcomes of pain and functional status, and the secondary patient outcomes of wound infections and medication errors. The importance of nurse staffing as a predictor of patient outcomes is highlighted and the need for a better understanding of the impact of different models of nursing staff mix is discussed. The second paper the results of a quasi-experimental study of the effects of a relationship-enhancing program of care (REPC) on residents, family members and on health care aides. The aim of the REPC was to enhance the way health care aides relate to their residents since it was proposed that meaningful interactions lead to close connections. Providing continuity of staff, ensuring health care aides have effective relational skills, and supporting them for their efforts, can have a positive effect on health care aides’ ability to provide effective relational care to residents. The third presentation of this symposium shares the findings of a study that increases our understanding of the effects of nursing-related hospital variables on 30-day mortality for hospitalized patients. A ‘30-Day Mortality Model’ was hypothesized, tested, and refined to explain relationships between predictor variables and 30-day mortality. The final presentation in this symposium describes the results of a comprehensive methodological analysis of the literature aimed at the identification of instruments for the measurement of nurse-sensitive patient outcomes. The goal of the analysis was to provide sound information for building a clinical database that documents the quality and the effectiveness of nursing care in acute, community or long-term care settings. The potential of nurse-sensitive outcomes measurement becoming an essential component of health care planning will be discussed. This symposium advances the state of the science on nurse-sensitive outcomes research, presenting evidence of linkages between nurse staffing, caregiving behaviour variables and patient outcomes. As well, a systematic process for the development of a database for the ongoing measurement of nurse-sensitive outcomes will be described. | |||
| Organizer: | Linda McGillis Hall, RN, PhD, assistant professor | ||
| Examining Nurse Staffing in Relation to Patient Outcomes Linda McGillis Hall, RN, PhD, assistant professor, Diane Irvine Doran, RN, PhD, associate professor | |||
| Linking Programs of Care Delivery with Client, Family Member and Nursing Staff Outcomes Katherine McGilton, PhD, post doctoral fellow | |||
| Nursing-Related Determinants of 30-Day Mortality for Hospitalized Patients Ann Tourangeau, PhD, assistant professor | |||
| The Nursing and Health Outcomes Project: Identification of Nurse-Sensitive Patient Outcomes Diane Doran, PhD, associate professor | |||
The Advancing Nursing Practice Excellence: State of the Science