Quantifying patient engagement with nurses: validation of a scale with AIDS patients.

The purpose of this study was to develop and test a measure of patient engagement with nurses, which is a quantifiable outcome of nurse-patient encounters. This measure, based on verbatim patient statements, was tested with a multi-site sample of 162 hospitalized patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Although developed and tested with acutely ill AIDS patients, the scales are not AIDS specific and hold promise as a general measure of the outcomes of nurse-patient encounters in other acute and chronic illnesses.