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INTRODUCTION: The paper presents the methods of cultural adaptation of the Newcastle Satisfaction with Nursing Scale (NSNS) to the conditions in Polish hospitals. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The process of cultural adaptation of the research tool took into consideration an analysis of different equivalence levels, the translation procedure and the estimation of psychometric parameters. The Polish version of the NSNS questionnaire was correctly completed by 787 patients making up 59.36% of the total number of patients who received the scale. RESULTS: The Polish version of the NSNS questionnaire was correctly completed by 787 patients making up 59.36% of the total number of patients who received the scale. Cronbach's α coefficient was 0.921 for the "experience" scale and 0.981 for the "satisfaction" scale. The values of Spearman's rank correlation coefficient were from 0.224 to 0.797 for "experience" and 0.815-0.894 for "satisfaction". All questionnaire items of the Polish NSNS version exerted a statistically significant influence on the total results of the scale (p = 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: The Polish NSNS version, similarly as the original version, can identify differences referring to "experience" and "satisfaction" with nursing care between the particular departments and between hospitals. The Polish NSNS version was conducted among patients during multicentre studies and it meets the criteria of functional, psychometric and façade equivalences.
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BACKGROUND: The cost of nursing in a modern hospital can take up to 50% of the total budget. Therefore, it is very important to use objective tools for assessment of the nursing workload and adjust staff requirements accordingly. The purpose of the study was to evaluate nursing workload using the Nursing Activities Score (NAS) in intensive care units. METHODS: This prospective analysis of nursing care of 314 adult patients was performed simultaneously in five intensive care units in Poland. NAS was used for the evaluation of nursing workload and the APACHE II score was used for assessment of the severity of cases. The APACHE score was calculated during the first 24 hours of ICU stay, while the NAS was recorded over an entire stay. RESULTS: The average age of the patients was 58.4 +/- 16.6 years. The length of stay was 8.7 +/- 11.4 days. The distribution between surgical (56%) and non-surgical cases (44%) was almost equal. Mortality was 21%. The median APACHE II score was 20 (1-42) and the NAS score 84.4%. There was no correlation between patients' clinical condition and nursing workload (p > 0.05), and the workload in surgical and non-surgical patients. The NAS score correlated well with the length of stay (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The study showed that ICU nurses spend 84.4% of their working time by the patient's bed. The optimal ICU nurse: patient ratio was estimated to be 1:1.2.
