ADHERENCE OF NURSES TOWARD USING A NURSING MODEL AS A GUIDELINE FOR NURSING ASSESSMENT

Abstract

This quasi-experimental research study describes the adherence of hospital nurses toward using a nursing model as a guideline for nursing assessment. Adherence was measured according to nurses’ attitude and behavior toward nursing assessment, nursing care plan, nurses’ knowledge of nursing models, and the significance of performing their nursing assessment based on a theoretical model. Once the experimental group received training about nursing theories and models and actively participated in constructing an assessment tool, adherence was measured according to the Miller’s Health Attitude Scale and Miller´s Behaviour Scale both revised and adapted by the authors. Evidence of adherence was also sought in nursing notes from patients´charts. For data analysis the t test difference in difference was used. Results showed that adherence measured by attitude was statistically significant. On the other hand, no significant differences were observed when adherence was measured according to the behaviour scale. These findings were supported by nurses´ notes where little adherence was found. We conclude that in terms of adherence behaviour, nurses did not show significant changes after the initial training. Significant findings were found in terms of nurses’ attitude toward working with a nursing model as they showed a tendency to adhere to a model in the attitude scale. The latter is very significant for the nursing profession and it motivates us to continue to enact the current nursing reform focused on nursing care management.