A comparison study of nursing care quality in different working status nursing staffs: An example of one local hospital.

To reduce costs, many hospitals are trying to adopt strategies to contract out their nursing workforce. The purpose of this study is to compare the quality of health care among the following three categories of nursing workforces in public hospitals: outsourced nurses, permanently employed nurses and contracted nurses compensated based on hours worked. The research sample included 300 patients cared for by 78 nurses in insurance wards in a local public hospital. Four methods were used to evaluate care quality. They included examining medical records, interviewing nurses, observing, and interviewing patients. The study found the best care quality was delivered by permanently employed nurses followed by that delivered by contracted nurses. The worst care quality was delivered by outsourced nurses employed by agency companies contracted to the public hospital. Care quality dimensions that were statistically significant among three categories of nurses included total quality of nursing care, nursing care planning, nursing instruction, and nursing evaluation.