Econometric Analysis (I,II) of the Nurse-Patient Relationship

The goal of health care administrators and providers is to offer cost-effective, high-quality care. The challenge to military and civilian nurses is to preserve professional nursing practice in an era when outside forces are trying to change its scope and practice as a cost containment measure. Nurses must understand the issues facing their profession and discipline, and the economic value of the nurse-patient relationship to patients, nurses, and administrators. This 2-year study used a sample of military and civilian nurses, patients, and administrators to develop the Nurse-Patient Relationship Resource Analysis (NPRRA) patient and professional questionnaires, based on a qualitative grounded theory study, "Nurse-Patient Relationship Patterns: An Economic Resource," and to establish their reliability and construct and convergent validity, with caring, relationships, and costs subscales. The goal was to then conduct a full-scale study using the revised NPRRA questionnaires with a sample of military and civilian respondents to (1) determine similarities and differences in military and civilian health care organizations; (2) test the Nurse-Patient Relationship Economic Theory (NPRET) using multiple regression analysis; (3) refine the NPRET; and (4) disseminate knowledge to civilian and military organizations and in articles about the nurse-patient relationship as an economic resource. The research provided valid and reliable patient and professional instruments. There were no overall differences between military and civilian respondents. The study sought to determine whether the caring and cost subscale scores could predict the relationship subscale, and found the caring subscale predictive in both patients and professionals, and the cost subscale to not be a factor in the analysis. These data demonstrate that additional research would be required to determine more precise economic parameters for evaluation. An organizational caring subscale is also required to understand how nursing practice could be negotiated by professional nurses in the era of managed competition/care.

Final report is available on NTRL: https://ntrl.ntis.gov/NTRL/dashboard/searchResults/titleDetail/PB2007107...