New tool for patient evaluation of nurse practitioner in primary care settings

Abstract

Aims and objectives: To validate a tool for patient evaluation of nurse practitioners.

Background: The roles of nurse practitioners in family practice settings are health promotion and routine follow-up of patients with chronic diseases. So far, several tools for patient evaluation of nurse practitioners have been developed. They revealed several dimensions of nurse practitioners' work and high levels of patient satisfaction with their work. The studies also reported conflicting data on the associations between demographic and other variables and the level of nurse practitioners' evaluation by patients.

Design: A cross-sectional study.

Methods: This study was performed in a sample of seven model family medicine practices in Slovenia. We included 30 consecutive adult patients in each model family practice aiming at the final sample of 210 respondents. Patient evaluation of nurse practitioners was assessed using a Nurse Practitioner Evaluation Scale.

Results: The response rate was 80·9%. Mean total score on Nurse Practitioner Evaluation Scale was 87·9 ± 12·4 points. Cronbach's alpha of Nurse Practitioner Evaluation Scale was 0·941. Factor analyses revealed three factors: clinical approach factor, comprehensive approach factor and patient-centred approach factor.

Conclusions: Nurse Practitioner Evaluation Scale proved to be a reliable tool for patient evaluations of nurse practitioners in primary care settings. Nurse Practitioner Evaluation Scale can be used in terms of a whole scale as well as in terms of three separate subscales.

Relevance to clinical practice: This newly developed tool can be used to monitor quality performance of nurse practitioners and to plan quality improvement actions in nurse practitioners' performance in primary care settings.

Keywords: nurse practitioner; patient satisfaction; primary health care.