Nursing Care Quality to Surgical Patients: A literature review

Abstract

Introduction: The concept of quality has a central role in delivery of the healthcare systems, while constitute a multifaceted concept for the nursing care to clinical settings.
Aim: To investigate the concept of quality of the provided nursing care to surgical patients and the factors affecting it from the patients’ point of view, as well to search for reliable and valid tools for its assessment.
Method: A literature review in the database PubMed/ Medline Embase, and Google Scholar was conducted in March-April 2023 with the key-words entered: «nursing care quality», «perioperative care», «nursing care quality questionnaire», «patient satisfaction». The selection of the studies was based on specific eligibility criteria. Data extracted were analyzed and synthesized.
Results: Only four studies matched the inclusion criteria and included in this review. The analysis of the results revealed that individualized care, empathy and nurses' competences constitute essentials aspects of the quality of nursing care, according to surgical patients’ views, while the affecting factors are related both to patient and the clinical data. Nursing care satisfaction measurement tools have been used in the literature to collect data and compare outcomes, offering valuable information in aspects of surgical care to better implement improvement strategies.
Conclusions: Surgical patients' satisfaction of the provided nursing care is a measure of assessing the quality of this care and for this reason appropriate tools have been designed and tested in nursing literature. Further research should be conducted in order the provision of quality, evidence-based nursing care, to be integrated in daily clinical practice to meet surgical patients' needs and preferences.