A more objective measure migbt be to examine tbe 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 tbat
crucial mformabon is often omitted from nursmg records,
or IS even ambiguous, incomplete or contradictory, tbe use
of nursing records as a means of measunng 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 observabon
schedules and data extracted directly from pabents
and nurses On the contrary, a highly reliable pabent parbcipabon
pracbce scale, similar to that used by Tuckett
et al (1982), to measure tbe existence of patient parbcipation
in medical care migbt be a useful tool for measuring
tbe existence of tbe concept witbin tbe context of
nursing pracbce
CONCLUSIONS