Perceived quality of nursing care and patient education: a cross-sectional study of hospitalised surgical patients in Finland

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to analyse the relationship between patient education and the quality of surgical nursing care as perceived by patients. The background of the study lies in the importance of a patient-centred approach for both patient education and quality evaluation. DESIGN: This was a cross-sectional descriptive correlational study with surgical patients. SETTING: Data were collected in 2013 in one hospital district in Finland. PARTICIPANTS: 480 hospitalised surgical patients. METHODS: The data were collected using two structured instruments: one measuring the perceived quality of nursing care experienced by patients (Good Nursing Care Scale) and one measuring the received knowledge of hospital patients (RKhp). Data were analysed statistically using descriptive and inferential statistics to describe the sample and study variables. Pearson's correlation coefficients were used to analyse the association between the scales. RESULTS: Surgical hospital patients evaluated the level of the quality of nursing care as high; this was especially true with reference to the environment and staff characteristics, but not to collaboration with family members. Most (85%) of the patients had received sufficient knowledge preoperatively and they were familiar with the proceeding of their care and treatment after discharge; in particular, they had received bio-physiological knowledge, consisting of knowledge of the disease, symptoms and the physiological elements of care. The positive correlation between the perceived quality of surgical nursing care and received knowledge was strong, suggesting a positive relationship between patient education and improvement of the quality of nursing care. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the results, the quality of nursing care and patient education are interconnected. Thus, by improving patient education, the quality of nursing care can also be improved. It is particularly important to improve collaboration with family members and patients' own management strategies as well as the multidimensionality of educational knowledge.