many studies confirm that increased nurse staffing in hospitals is associated with better care outcomes, this interconnection has not been shown to reflect a causal relationship (Aiken et al. 2002). Hospitals that provide high quality care have better nurse staffing strategies. Overall hospital commitment to a high quality of care in combination with effective nurse retention strategies leads to better patient outcomes, patient satisfaction with overall nursing care, and nurse satisfaction with job and provided care (Seago & Ash 2002).
Quality means conformance of specification/stan-dards (Gupta & Kant 2001). Continuous quality improvement (CQI) aims to identify ‘best practices’ so that overall quality of care improves (Francis & De Souza 2004). Performing CQI meaningfully on the activities that most significantly contribute to the desired outcomes is likely to produce the best results (Carey 2010). However, in some cases, resistance to change is not possible to overcome while implement-ing CQI (Hermida et al. 2005). Quality nursing care is all the more relevant in a tertiary care setting today as modern medical care procedures are made successful by effective and efficient nursing care of the patients throughout their stay in the hospital. Quality indicators directly related to nurse staffing have been developed (Seago et al. 2006). It is possi-ble to argue that correct and timely identification of all the deficiencies in a tertiary care setting that are hindering the delivery of optimal quality of nursing care is the bane of nursing care managers around the globe. Newer approaches, based on creativity and innovation, in order to identify these obscure defi-ciencies in the system will facilitate the process to improve standards of nursing care in any hospital setting.
Overview of the literature
Studies show that in most organisations, two out of three transformation initiatives fail. Managing change is difficult, but part of the problem is that there is little agreement on what factors most influ-ence transformation initiatives. Moreover, the litera-ture shows that managers are often using diverse approaches in different parts of the organisation, which compounds the turmoil that usually accompa-nies change (Sirkin et al. 2005). Studies further sug-gest that organisations, which can manage change and support change leadership, are more successful in attaining their objectives (Gunn 2008). The Delphi technique fosters team spirit and reduces conflict, thus