Patient‐reported outcomes of the nurse–patient relationship in psychiatric inpatient hospitals: A multicentred descriptive cross‐sectional study

Accessible Summary What is known on the subject? Psychiatric and/or mental health nurses are struggling to measure the outcomes of the nurse–patient relationship. Collecting nurse‐sensitive patient outcomes is a strategy to provide outcomes of a nurse–patient relationship from patients' perspectives. Because there was no validated scale, the Mental Health Nurse‐Sensitive Patient Outcome‐Scale (six‐point Likert‐scale) was recently developed and psychometrically evaluated. What the paper adds to existing knowledge? This is the first study using the Mental Health Nurse‐Sensitive Patient Outcome‐scale to measure nurse‐sensitive patient outcomes of the nurse–patient relationship in psychiatric hospitals. Moderate to good average scores for the MH‐NURSE‐POS total (4.42) and domains scores (≥4.09). are observed. Especially outcomes related to ‘motivation’ to follow and stay committed to the treatment received high average scores (≥4.60). Our results are consistent with the patient‐reported effect(s) of relation‐based nursing in qualitative research. The scores generate evidence to support the outcomes of the nurse–patient relationship and implicates that further investment in (re)defining and elaborating nurse–patient relationships in mental healthcare is meaningful and justified. More comparative patient‐reported data can determine how nurse‐sensitive patient outcomes are affected by the patient, nurse, and context. What are the implications for practice? Demonstrating patient‐reported outcomes of the nurse–patient relationship can be important to enhance the therapeutic alliance between nurses and patients, organize responsive nursing care, and create nursing visibility in mental healthcare. Further nursing staff training on interpersonal competencies, such as self‐awareness and cultural sensitivity, can be pivotal to achieving the patient‐reported outcomes for inpatients with mental health problems. Introduction Identifying patient‐reported outcomes of the nurse–patient relationship is a priority in inpatient mental healthcare to guide clinical decision‐making and quality improvement initiatives. Moreover, demonstrating nurse‐sensitive patient outcomes can be a strategy to avoid further erosion of the specialism of psychiatric and/or mental health nursing. Aim/Question To measure nurse‐sensitive patient outcomes of the nurse–patient relationship. Method In a multicentred cross‐sectional study, 296 inpatients admitted to five psychiatric hospitals completed the