Patients' and nurses' perceptions of the quality of nursing care in Kuwait.

Using an exploratory research method and a purposive sample of 259 subjects (109 of whom were nurses and 148 patients), data were collected using an instrument consisting of the elements of the nursing process. Four hypotheses were tested, using the analysis of covariance and the t-test The result of hypothesis I showed that there was no statistically significant difference in the perception of the quality of nursing care between the patients in the medical and surgical units of the five study hospitals. Hypothesis 2 indicated that there was no significant difference between nurses in the medical-surgical units in the areas of assessment, planning and implementation. However, a significant difference was found for accountability and responsibility. Further analysis using a t-test showed a significant difference between nurses in the medical and surgical units in the areas of accountability and responsibility. The data for hypothesis 3 and 4 yielded no significant difference in the perceptions of quality care by nurses according to work experience and by patients in all hospitals regardless of the patients' age and sex.