Nurses' knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs regarding organ and tissue donation and transplantation.

The acute shortage of human organs and tissues for transplantation has been attributed in part to health professionals, including nurses, for their reluctance to recognize and refer suitable candidates for donation. In 1988, nurses' knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs regarding organ and tissue donation and transplantation were assessed using a 70-item questionnaire. Respondents included 1,683 nurses employed in 62 rural and urban hospitals in the Midwest. Only 365 respondents (21.7 percent) reported having requested tissue donations and 243 (14.4 percent) reported having requested organ donations. However, of those who requested tissue or organ donations, 270 (74 percent) obtained consents for tissues and 150 (61.7 percent) obtained consent for organ donations. Respondents were knowledgeable about organ and tissue donation (mean score of 7.5 on a 0 to 10 knowledge scale with 10 as highest) and reported attitudes and beliefs were moderately positive. Factors that were significantly correlated with the number of requests made for organs and tissues and the number of consents obtained included nurses' knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about donation; nurses' perception of their own confidence in their ability to request tissues and organs; being a supervisor; and working in an emergency department.

Tapping patient satisfaction: a strategy for quality assessment.

Participant satisfaction is an important measure of program effectiveness. In hospitals, patient satisfaction is a measure that is compatible with quality assurance. This article focuses on the revision, implementation and analysis of a patient satisfaction questionnaire that was designed as a tool for assessing the quality of non-physician encounters in a small hospital. The Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (PSQ), which contained a 30-item rating scale, was designed to collect data about admissions, nursing care and seven other hospital services. The 686 PSQs that comprised a 4-month sample of 2156 instruments (31.8%) completed in a selected year were analyzed. Results show no less than 90% of patient ratings reflecting satisfaction. In addition, open-ended responses were overwhelmingly laudatory. The content and process of this collaborative effort demonstrate compatibility between research and management when goals and purposes are clearly delineated.

Pamphlets involve staff in patient education.

Hospital staff involvement in a patient education program is critical to the program's success. Unfortunately, prepackaged programs, although attractive, ignore this important component. Pamphlet construction can be a convenient way to include various staff members in the development of a patient education program.