Patient satisfaction with nursing care in a colorectal surgical population

Abstract

This paper describes one arm of a much larger, multi-site study whose hypothesis was that evidence-based nursing practice is more effective than routine nursing care in improving patient outcomes and health gain. This arm of the study investigated patient satisfaction as an outcome measure for those patients undergoing colorectal surgery. The study's relevance for nurses is in the potential feedback for reviewing nursing practice and health care delivery. Patient satisfaction with nursing care was measured through a validated questionnaire, the SERVQUAL, followed by interviews with a percentage of the study population. The results of this arm of the study confirm the importance of measuring patient satisfaction through a triangulated method which investigates thoroughly, providing feedback for continuous quality improvement. The in-depth interviews provided greater insight into the results of the questionnaire, enabling clear feedback to nursing staff at the different sites of the study. Results of the questionnaire revealed age, sex and education levels of patients as major influences on individual perceptions of nursing care. Patients whose surgery resulted in stomas were also less satisfied with health-care delivery.

Evaluating the impact of a new high dependency unit

“…A possible explanation for this finding is that the removal of higher acuity patients from the area would have allowed ward nurses more time to spend with each of their patients. Findings are supported by previous research indicating that patient satisfaction is often influenced by the availability, attitude and perceived degree of caring and empathy of nurses rather than by the nurses’ expertise alone 13–16 . One area identified for improvement by both patients and relatives was the involvement of relatives in discharge planning.…”

Patient satisfaction with nursing care and its relationship with patient characteristics

“…Jaipaul and Rosenthal (2003) determined that the level of satisfaction of elderly patients increased in parallel with a deterioration in their general health condition. When we reviewed the literature, we determined that elderly patients have been reported to be more satisfied with the nursing care provided compared with younger patients (Sitzia & Wood, 1997; Lumby & England, 2000; Crow et al. , 2002; Johansson et al.…”

Measuring Functional Service Quality Using SERVQUAL in a High-Dependence Health Service Relationship

“…10 A number of studies have explored using SERVQUAL in the health care field, primarily in hospital settings. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] Although the results have been relatively positive, services provided in hospitals or doctors' offices are often very different than those services provided in a long-term care health environment. The shorter duration of exposure to the provided services and the quicker time frame to completion of the health care task in the acute service setting allow for a more consistent measurement of expectations versus perceptions.…”