Oncology Advanced Nurses' Use of Outcome Indicators and Perception of Outcome Evaluation

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the use of outcome indicators and perception of outcome evaluation of oncology advanced practice nurses (APNs). Method: A total of 111 oncology APNs from hospitals which have over 400 beds were surveyed. The participants' use of outcome indicators and perception of outcome evaluation were collected using a questionnaire including 84 outcome indicators for APNs developed by Sung et al. and 13 items on APNs' contribution to the hospitals developed by Kleinpell (2005). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, and test. Result: Twelve items out of 84 outcome indicators were used over 50% of the time and 57 items could be used in the future by the participants. Seven of the 10 top-ranking outcome indicators in use were education related and were also expected to be used frequently in the future. The score for participants' perception of outcome evaluation was average-high, 3.82 out of 5. Conclusions: The results of the study show that the main outcome indicator for oncology APNs is education related, and thus the use of education related outcome indicators is recommended to make oncology APNs' activities be more visible.