Abstract:
The image of nurse is the first impression perceived by the clients when they visit the hospital and make contact with nurses, especially at the Out Patient Department (OPD). Since, it is the frontline gate where the clients meet nurses. This descriptive comparative study aimed to compare the actual and ideal images of nurses as perceived by clients at the OPD and compare perceived mages of nurses with the difference of the clients characteristics. A multi-stage random sampling was used to recruit a sample of 320 clients using services at the OPD of Rajavithi hospital, Bangkok in 2016. Research instruments included a demographic questionnaire, the perception of the actual image of nurses questionnaire, and the perception of the ideal image of nurses questionnaire. Their reliabilities were .84 and .92, respectively. Descriptive statistics, t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to analyze the data. The results revealed that the participants had scores of perceived ideal image of nurses higher than those of perceived actual image of nurses (t= -8.92, p .01). The clients with a Bachelor degree or higher had a score of perceived ideal image of nurses higher than those with college or diploma education (F= 3.09, p< .05). The clients who used the hospital services 4 times or more perceived the ideal image of nurses higher than those who used the services only 2 times (F= 4.56, p> .01). Other than these, the differences were not found. These findings suggest that nurse administrators should set a policy or regulation for nurses to suitably perform and present their proper images at all time. It would make clients and general population have the best perceived image of nurses. In addition, activities that promote positive images of nurse perception should be implemented, especially in groups of males, having lower education than bachelor degree and new clients.