Nurses' perceptions of the provision of quality nursing care to post procedure elective Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty (PTCA) patients

This grounded theory study was conducted in a large Metropolitan Hospital, Queensland, Australia, to explore and describe nurses' perceptions of quality nursing care and factors that affect quality nursing care provided to patients undergoing Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty (PTCA) procedures. Data were gathered from focus group interviews, participant observations, in-depth interviews and published literature. Information was recorded using an audio recorder during the focus group sessions and note-taking during the participant observations and in-depth interviews. Thirty-five registered nurses from a Cardiac Investigation Unit (CIU) and a Coronary Care Unit (CCU) participated in the study. The process of data collection, analysis and theory formulation occurred by using a constant comparative data approach suggested by Strauss and Corbin (1990). The results of this study showed that the nurses viewed quality nursing care as the combination of basic, personal and application standards. The participants perceived quality as a complex concept. Quality of nursing care was reflected best when nurses combined basic standards - 'doing to' with personal standards - 'being with' to become the core concept of application standards, which represented the nurse-patient relationship and a marriage of expectations that both the nurse and the patient have. This study identified a range of conditions that affect the provision of quality nursing care for elective PTCA patients. These conditions were later grouped into three categories, structure, process and culture. Their relationship with the theory of quality was examined and discussed. This study recommended that nurses develop strategies to provide innovative ways in which to overcome the conditions that reduce time available for conducive nurse-patient relationships and to achieve the marriage of expectations.