Abstract:
This research evaluates the effect of combined care nursing on
three outcomes:
i) patient satisfaction;
ii) staff satisfaction; and
iii) quality of care.
Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital was in the early planning
stages of changing to combined care nursing from the traditional
method of providing separate postpartum and nursery care to mothers
and babies. The opportunity existed to evaluate formally the change
to combined care.
There were three hypotheses to be investigated.
Data were collected from four sources: patient surveys, staff
surveys, informal interviews, and internal hospital documents.
Both quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed. The surveys
were administered on three different occasions to patients and
staff. Other sources of data included informal interviews with
patients and staff who responded to the surveys, and chart audits.The study findings revealed that the majority of respondents
had increased levels of satisfaction and perceptions of increased
quality of care following implementation of combined care.
These findings, related to combined care and the role of
change in its implementation and evaluation, indicate that there are
no right or easy answers about how to make new ideas become reality
in a smooth, pleasant way.
