Citation

Stein S, Linn MW, Stein EM. Activ. Adapt. Aging 1986; 8(3): 143-156.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1986, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1300/J016v08n03_16

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine if nursing home patients' perception of nursing staff members were associated with quality of nursing home care. Three hospital professional staff members who were familiar with the homes in the study rated the LO homes on a 1 = excellent to 4 = poor quality. Patients (N = 239) admitted to the 10 homes provided assessments after they had been in the nursing home for one month of the nursing staff activities. Homes were classified by the four levels of care and responses of the patients were compared by multivariate analysis of variance. Patient responses differed significantly among the four levels of quality, with significantly more favorable responses in the excellent homes and the least favorable in the poor homes. In poorer homes, patients perceived less respect, communication, res onse from calls, concern, and also belicved staff members L? td not like their work. In addition, when asked how the staff would respond to specific situations, patients in poorer quality homes less often selected the more favorable behaviors. The study demonstrates that patients are able to assess quality by their perceptions of nursing staff and suggests that patients' assessments should be included in evaluations of homes. Further, it points up the nced for in-service training in attempting to enhance the quality of care.