Patients' Perception of Feeling Known by Their Nurses and the Nurse Practice Envrionment

Abstract

Healthcare leaders have a responsibility to understand the connection between healthy practice environments and patients' perceptions of care. The purpose of this research was to explore the relationship between the nurses' perception of the practice environment and the patients' perception of feeling known by their nurses. This descriptive, correlational study used quantitative and qualitative methodology. A convenience sample of 123 patients, on six patient care units, completed the Patients' Perception of Feeling Known by their Nurses Scale and a supplemental survey designed to determine the content validity of the Patients' Perception of Feeling Known by their Nurses Scale. To measure registered nurse satisfaction at the unit level (N=6), 290 nurses completed the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators RN Survey with Job Satisfaction Scales-R. Patients' perception of feeling known by their nurses was high with a mean of 3.5 out of 4.0. No significant differences between levels of care were found. Nurses had favorable satisfaction at 4.37 on a 6 point scale. Nesting patients within individual nursing units, mixed linear modeling for the relationship between job satisfaction and patients' perception of feeling known was non-significant (t(4) =-1.085, p > .05). The supplemental survey offered content validation on the subscales of "Experienced a meaningful, personal connection with their nurses" and "Felt empowered by their nurses to participate in their care." For the subscale "Felt safe" a focus on safety measures was revealed as a new category. The fourth subscale, "Experienced being recognized as a unique human being," suggests nursing has opportunity for improvement in the more subjective aspects of patient care.