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The JCI audit is over. We passed. And excelled.
While the preparation for the JCI audit was an excellent
opportunity for us to review our workflow and processes, it also allowed us to
reflect on some of the shortcomings in our current care provision and our
hospital policies, and to improve on them. Now that audit is completed, and the
dust has settled, we can go on to continue to upgrade and improve our services,
among others. This should, however, become second nature and "matter-of-fact"
practice in our care provision.
What we could also do now is to go that one step further and
look at or focus on things that to us might not have seemed important in the
healthcare delivery process. I have chosen three examples of what we can now
also look at and included these as articles in the current issue of the Proceedings
for you to read about and reflect upon.
The first focuses on the level of nurse staffing and its impact
on patient satisfaction. This article by Zhang et al from the
Department of Nursing Administration is a questionnaire-based correlational
study involving 467 nurses within the hospital.1 While JCI might
have focused on quality provided, this study aimed to look at how the softer
side of nursing care provision might have affected patient satisfaction in the
overall experience. It also explores factors that may affect a nurse’s
capability to provide true nursing care and not just technical expertise. Some
of these like nurse-to-patient ratios, staff qualifications and working
environment are better covered in the full text and should make for an
interesting insight into how our nurses feel about their own shortfalls in the
current system.
The second article focuses on visitation policies in hospitals.
Traditionally, public hospitals in our country have practiced fixed visitation
times to allow ease of daily operations and time-out for patients to rest.
While hospital staff preferred fixed hours, relatives and patients obviously
favoured free access for convenience as well as for family support in inpatient
care.2 The right approach might be a hybrid of a
restricted-flexible policy, and is surely something for us to think about.
The third article focuses on another "soft" aspect of care — the
issue of frailty in the older person. Wong et Bergman have rightly
highlighted the problem of this issue in the article to raise awareness among
us of the importance of recognising frailty among our patients and the
implications that this has on clinical practice and outcomes.3
With that, I leave you to read through this interesting issue of
the Proceedings. May it provide much stimulus for thought.
London Lucien Ooi
Associate Editor
References
1. Zhang RF, Nazeemah bte M, Chan CL. High nurse staffing level
has a positive impact on patient satisfaction with nursing care in an acute
hospital setting: from nurses’ perspectives. SGH Proceedings 2005; 14:149-54.
2. Wong YY, Chow WV, Lee Y. A descriptive study on the views of
patients and nurses concerning visitation policy in a hospital. SGH Proceedings
2005; 14:139-48.
3. Wong CH, Bergman H. A review on models and perspectives on
frailty in older persons. SGH Proceedings 2005; 14:127-33.
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