A more objective measure might be to examine the nursing
records as they should clearly provide details and indicate
the extent to which the concept occurred However,
as findings from tbe National Health Service Executive
(1991) and Walker & Selmanoff (1974) emphasized that
crucial informabon is often omitted from nursing records,
or IS even ambiguous, incomplete or contradictory, the use
of nursing records as a means of measuring the existence
ofthe concept might also be unreliable Empincal referents
relabng to tbe use of patient parbcipation might tberefore
need to include both tbe use of nursing records or observation
schedules and data extracted directly from patients
and nurses On the contrary, a highly reliable patient participation
practice scale, similar to that used by Tuckett
et al (1982), to measure the existence of patient participation
in medical care might be a useful tool for measuring
the existence of the concept within the context of
nursing practice
CONCLUSIONS