The Relationship between Autonomy and Quality of Health Care among Staff Nurses

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 B.SC in nursing sciences

2 Assistant professor of Nursing Administration, Faculty of Nursing, Menoufia University

3 lecturer of Nursing Administration , Faculty of Nursing, Menoufia University

Abstract

Autonomy is the main element of professional nursing practice, which leads to improve patient outcomes. Nurses who have a higher degree of autonomy in their practice provide high-quality patient care. Purpose of the study: Assess the relationship between autonomy and quality of health care among staff nurses. Design: A descriptive correlational research design was utilized for this study. Setting: Conducted at selected general departments and closed units of Teaching Hospital. Subjects: Convenience sample of 250 staff nurses and 100 patients were included at this study. Instruments: Two instruments were used for data collection: instrument I: Dempster Practice Behaviors Scale and instrument II:Patient's Quality of Health Care Questionnaire. Results: Revealed that the majority of studied nurses had moderate autonomy level (71.6%) In addition, nearly two thirds of studied patients had moderate health care quality (65%) Conclusion: There was a positive non-significant correlation between nurses' perception of autonomy and patients' perception of quality of health care. Recommendation: Encourage nurses to participate in decision-makings to create mutual trust between managers and super visors and staff, and provide continuous in service education to increase nurses' knowledge base.

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