Patient information and participation still in need of improvement: evaluation of patients' perceptions of quality of care.

AIMS To identify areas in need of quality improvement by investigating inpatients' perceptions of quality of care, and to identify differences in perceptions of care related to patient gender, age and type of admission. BACKGROUND Nursing managers play an important role in the development of high-quality care. METHODS Quality of care was assessed using the Quality from the Patients' Perspective (QPP). In all, 2734 inpatients at a Swedish university hospital completed the QPP. RESULTS Inadequate quality was identified for 15 out of 24 items, e.g. information given on treatment and examination results, opportunities to participate in decisions related to care and information on self-care. Patients with emergency admissions reported lower scores for quality of information and doctors' care than did patients with planned admissions. CONCLUSION Results from the present survey identified areas in need of quality improvement and differences in perceived care quality between patients. Quality of care must be developed in close collaboration with other healthcare professionals; in this respect, nursing managers could play an important role. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT Nursing managers could play a more active part in measuring quality of care, and in using results from such measurements to develop and improve quality of care.