The relationship between patients’ perception of nursing care and nursing attitudes towards patient privacy in gynecology clinics

Abstract

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Patient privacy is an important variable that affects patients’ satisfaction with their hospital experience and perception of quality of healthcare. This study aims to examine the relationship between the importance attached by nurses working in gynecology and obstetrics clinics to patient privacy and patients’ satisfaction with nursing care.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> This descriptive study included nurses (n=48) and female patients (123) who agreed to participate in the study. The research data were collected using the ‘patient introductory form’ and the ‘patient perception of hospital experience with nursing care’ for the patients, and the ‘nurse introductory form’ and the ‘patient privacy scale’ for the nurses. Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis were used for data evaluation. </p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> The patients’ mean age was 30.93±8.28 years. Of them, 31.7% were primary school graduates and 81.3% were housewives. The nurses’ mean age and occupational experience was 31.60±8.76 and 11.17±8.93 years, respectively. 50.4% of the nurses had a bachelor’s degree. The patients’ mean score on the ‘patient perception of hospital experience with nursing care’ was found to be 63.04±11.09. The nurses’ mean score on the ‘Patient Privacy Scale’ was found to be 122.89±14.59. A positive relationship was found between nurses’ emphasis on patient privacy and patients’ perceptions of hospital experience with nursing care (r=0.34, p<0.05).</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> It was determined that nurses’ perception of patient privacy and patients’ satisfaction with nursing care were high; further, as nurses’ emphasis on patient privacy increases, patients’ perception of their hospital experience with nursing care is positively affected.</p>