Professional commitment, patient safety, and patient-perceived care quality.
OBJECTIVE
To examine how professional commitment influences patient safety and patient-perceived care quality.


METHODS
Investigators for this study used a cross-sectional design with questionnaires. A total of 348 pairs of nurses and inpatients were contacted at two medical centers in Taiwan during the period from August 2007 to January 2008, yielding 284 pairs of completed questionnaires.


METHODS
Frequencies of six adverse patient events were used to measure patient safety; and the Service Quality Scale was used to measure patient-perceived care quality. Four items of the Professional Commitment Questionnaire were used to measure professional commitment. Regressions were used for the analyses.


RESULTS
Professional commitment positively influenced overall patient safety (ss=.19, p=.00) and overall patient-perceived care quality (ss=.13, p=.03). Furthermore, professional commitment positively influenced all patient safety indicators (ss>or=.12, p<or=.04), except frequency of nosocomial infections, the coefficient of which reached borderline significance (ss=.11, p=.07). Professional commitment also positively influenced care quality in terms of responsiveness (ss=.16, p=.01) and empathy (ss=.14, p=.03).


CONCLUSIONS
Professional commitment may enhance patient safety and patient-perceived care quality.


CONCLUSIONS
This study indicates that nurse professional commitment can enhance patient safety and patient-perceived care quality.
Teng
Ching-I
CI
Department of Business Administration, Chang Gung University, Taiwan. chingit@mail.cgu.edu.tw
Dai
Yu-Tzu
YT
Shyu
Yea-Ing Lotus
YI
Wong
May-Kuen
MK
Chu
Tsung-Lan
TL
Tsai
Ying-Huang
YH
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000451:nursing / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology*; D015279:Organizational Culture; D009937:Organizational Objectives; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010558:Personnel Loyalty; D011361:Professional Competence; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D017751:Safety Management / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013624:Taiwan