Quality of Care

Although acute inpatient psychiatric care has changed dramatically over the past 2 decades, little is known about how these changes have affected the quality of care, psychiatric nurse staffing, or patient outcomes. The purpose of this report is to explore the quality of care, quality of the practice environment, and adverse events as assessed by psychiatric nurses in the general hospital setting.

The primary aims of this study were to determine the reliability and validity of 2 measures: the Nursing Assistant Self-efficacy for Restorative Care Scale and the Nursing Assistant Outcome Expectations for Restorative Care Scale. This study included 386 nursing assistants from 8 nursing homes. The findings provide some support for the reliability and validity of these measures on the basis of Rasch analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and convergent validity.

BACKGROUND: Most prior research on the outcomes of restorative care programs has been focused on resident outcomes including such things as functional performance, behavior, and quality of life. Treatment fidelity issues and compliance with the programs were not addressed in these studies. Without such an evaluation, it is impossible to evaluate the effectiveness of restorative care activities. PURPOSE: To test the reliability and validity of the Restorative Care Behavior Checklist (RCBC), which is an observed measure of restorative care activities performed by nursing assistants (NAs).

Comparing Psychiatric and Nonpsychiatric Nurse Reports on the Quality of Care in General Hospitals

Reliable and valid instruments are needed for evaluating complex inpatient psychiatric environments where psychiatric nurses work and patients get better. The Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Workforce Index (PES-NWI) is an instrument commonly used in outcomes research to measure constructs of the practice environment. However, psychometric properties of the PES-NWI have not been tested in a psychiatric nurse population. This paper examines the psychometric properties of the PES-NWI using a sample of hospital based psychiatric registered nurses.