Feasibility of the McIntyre audit tool for haemodialysis nurses

BackgroundNurse-sensitive indicators (NSI) assess the quality of nursing care provided to patients. These indicators assess the structures (supportive measures), processes (nursing actions) and outcomes of care. The McIntyre Audit Tool (MAT) was developed to measure haemodialysis NSIs. ObjectivesThe objective of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and utility of the MAT in measuring haemodialysis NSIs in clinical practice. DesignMultisite nonrandomized feasibility study. ParticipantsA convenience sample of nurses (n = 30) were recruited from two haemodialysis units in Australia. MeasurementsParticipants completed the MAT once daily for 1 week, to measure the extent the clinical indicators were being met. Feasibility data including utility and acceptability of the tool was collected once from each participant. Data were analysed descriptively. ResultsParticipants completed a total of 97 audits. Results revealed the majority of structural (75%) and process indicators (73%) were being achieved although some variation between sites was observed. Results for the outcome indicators showed more variation (5.9%-94.1). Feasibility results found most nurses (79%) took <5 min to complete the MAT and found the tool easy to use (91.7%). Most participants (83.3%) reported audits could be completed during a shift and auditing was easily implemented (79.2%). ConclusionUse of the MAT in clinical practice is a feasible and acceptable way of auditing the quality of haemodialysis nursing practice. The tool could be used to establish minimum standards and improve the quality of nursing care in haemodialysis units, also enabling benchmarking between services.

Automated summary

This study evaluated the feasibility and utility of the McIntyre Audit Tool (MAT) in measuring haemodialysis nurse-sensitive indicators (NSIs) in clinical practice. The results showed that the MAT is a feasible and acceptable tool for auditing the quality of haemodialysis nursing practice. It can be used to establish minimum standards, improve the quality of nursing care, and enable benchmarking between services.