Developing and Validating Nursing Performance Standards for Hemodialysis Units at Ain Shams University Hospital

Abstract

Nursing standards of care are guidelines by which nurses should practice to provide safe care, standards provide guidance to assist nurses in decision making, support nurses by outlining practice expectation of the profession, and are used as a legal reference for reasonable and prudent practice. This study aimed at: developing and validating nursing performance standards for hemodialysis units at Ain Shams University Hospital, and determining applicability of the developed nursing standards through assessing nurses' performance at hemodialysis units. Design: descriptive cross-sectional and methodological design was utilized to conduct this study. Subject: This study included two groups of subjects: first, Jury group included (30) members in the field of nursing. Second, all staff nurses working in hemodialysis units their total number was (32) staff nurses. Setting: It was conducted at hemodiaysis units at Ain Shams University Hospital. Tools: Three different tools were utilized, Opinionnaire sheet to ascertain face and content validity of the proposed nursing performance standards, structured interviewing questionnaire, and observational checklist for nurses' performance according to the developed standards. Results: Showed that most of the studied staff nurses agreed about all items of the proposed structure and process standards they have moderate level of performance according to the proposed standards. Conclusion: The present study concluded that the proposed developed nursing performance standards are acceptable to be used in hemodialysis units at Ain Shams University Hospital. Recommendations: The developed standards should be applied and communicated to all staff nurses of the hemodialysis Units at Ain Shams University Hospital through workshops, booklets and pursuers