A measure of patient satisfaction with nursing care: The Italian version of "Newcastle Satisfaction with Nursing Scales" [Misura della soddisfazione del paziente per l'assistenza infermieristica ricevuta: Versione del "Newcastle Satisfaction with Nursing Scales"]

Introduction. Available measures of patients' satisfaction with nursing care are scarce in number, often do not evaluate specifically satisfaction with nursing and sometimes fail to identify areas for improvement and/or to measure variations between different standards of care. The paper aims are the translation and the validation of the Italian version of the "Newcastle Satisfaction with Nursing Scales" which is among the few specific instruments, valid, reliable and able to allow an accurate reflection on nursing care quality as perceived by patients. Methods. The tool was translated into Italian following a thorough process of forward and backward translation. The translated Scales were validated by performing a pilot test, a focus group with patients and an audit with nursing staff. The resulting questionnaire was administered to 82 patients admitted to the teaching hospital Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, in order to undergo major abdominal surgery. Statistical analysis was performed utilizing SPSS 15.0.0 for Windows. Internal consistency and convergent validity were assessed with Cronbach's alpha and Pearson coefficient respectively. Results. Two analyses were performed: the first on the questionnaire section about patients experiences of nursing care (α = 0.949) and the second on the section regarding patients' satisfaction with nursing care (α = 0.954); both demonstrated high internal consistency of the items. Discussion. The performed analyses confirmed the sensitivity and specificity for the Italian version of "Newcastle Satisfaction with Nursing Scales". Such an instrument can be useful to evaluate the quality of the care performed and to implement the improvement in the process of ongoing development of quality care.