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In pursuit of quality of nursing care
Author(s) -
REDFERN SALLY J.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
journal of clinical nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.94
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1365-2702
pISSN - 0962-1067
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2702.1993.tb00153.x
Subject(s) - nursing , quality (philosophy) , nursing care , nursing outcomes classification , negotiation , health care , nursing research , psychology , interpersonal communication , medicine , team nursing , sociology , social psychology , social science , philosophy , epistemology , economics , economic growth
Summary• This paper explores the elusive and complex concept of quality of nursing care. In attempting to define it, the question is raised whether it is possible to preserve the concept of the whole in the drive to isolate and measure component parts. • Components of quality in health care are identified including technical skills, interpersonal relationships and contextual properties of the organizational setting. • Values fundamental to a high‐quality service are highlighted—equity, respect for persons and caring—that enable nurses to negotiate therapeutic relationships with their patients. • A study in the Nursing Research Unit at Kings College London that incorporates multiple triangulation in an attempt to understand the domain of quality of nursing care is described. • Priority is given to patients and nurses as primary definers of quality of nursing care. The process developed in our research to identify indicators of quality as perceived by them is outlined and examples of their views are included. The study is not yet complete; further analysis will enable us to identify conceptual frameworks of quality of nursing care held by patients and nurses.