Evaluation of outcome in nursing practice

간호실무에서의 결과평가

Today, quality management is appearing as a critical issue in the field of health care service, partly because of increasing cost of health care. And qualified health care is also accepted as the right of clients, and the responsibility of health professions. So nursing profession can survive and develop only through the quality management of nursing practice like other health professions. Recently, Consumers of nursing service require the effectiveness and the efficiency of nursing practice. Effectiveness and efficiency of nursing practice can be accomplished by outcome evaluation. The focus of outcome evaluation in nurisng practice is on the change which occures in patient's health status with nurisng intervention. Evaluation of outcome is difficult because of some related problems which should be solved, or managed. These problems could be classified as problems of measurement, and attribution. To solve the problems and to evaluate the outcome in nursing practice more accurately, following tasks were suggested. 1) Outcome indicators, and outcome measurement tools should be developed. For these purpose, outcome variables that nursing interventions can contribute primarily should be found out. Also, outcome variables which are driven from nursing theories should be developed. 2) Outcome researches which can explain the effect of nursing care to patient outcomes should be performed. The outcome researches are the methods which can increase the power of nursing profession. 3) Models which can be used for the systematic and scientific quality management in nursing practice should be developed. The models should include outcome variables, and be able to explain the relationship between structure, process, and outcome aspects of quality management. 4) The method which can make patients participate in the evaluation process of quality of nursing practice should be devised. Because outcome evaluation is client-focused evaluation, the perspectives of patients should be emphasized, and reflected in the process of evaluation.