A Comparison of Patient Satisfaction with Care Received and Nurse Satisfaction with Care Given

Abstract

Purpose: The main purpose of this study was to compare the level of satisfaction of patients with nursing care received, and of nurses with nursing care provided to their patients. Another purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between job satisfaction by the nurses and satisfaction with nursing care they provide. Method: A self-report questionnaire developed by Yoo & Hong (1999) was used to measure patient and nurse satisfaction. The participants were 147 patients and 133 nurses and data were collected from October 23 to October 30, 2002. Data analysis was done using SPSS WIN 11.0. Result: The average score for patient satisfaction was 2.47 (maximum score 5.0) and for nurses, 2.20. This difference was statistically significant. The patients gave high scores on care related personal hygiene, but they gave low scores for critical nursing areas such as following appropriate procedure for administering medications. No significant relationship was found between satisfaction with their nursing care by the nurses and satisfaction with the job. Conclusion: Even though the patient scores were significantly higher than nurses´, the overall average score was very low and critical nursing actions received the lowest scores. It is necessary to identify areas in need of improvement and develop continuing education programs for nurses.