Nursing care is a major supportive service provided to hospitalized patients 24 hours a day and nurses constitute majority of health care providers (El-Nagger, Ahmed, Elsayed, & Khamis, 2013; Sharew, Bizuneh, Assefa, & Habtewold, 2018). Evidence suggests that one of the most important indicators of the overall quality of care provided by the health care institution is related to patient satisfaction with nursing care. Therefore, patient satisfaction with nursing care is the most important predictor of patients’ overall satisfaction with hospital care (Alasad, Abu Tabar,& Aburuz, 2015). Patient satisfaction is defined as health care recipient’s reaction to salient aspects of the context, process and result of their service experience (Alhusband & Abuarub, 2009). Assessment of the patient, caregiver, and family experience of healthcare offers the prospect for consideration and perfection of nursing care and positive patient outcomes (Berkowitz, 2016). There are studies on patient satisfaction in Egypt (El-Nagger, Ahmed, Elsayed, & Khamis, 2013); Poland (Gutysz-WojnikaDyk Cudak & Ozga, 2012) among others but there is no study utilizing “The Newcastle Satisfaction with Nursing Scale” (NSNS) to assess patient satisfaction in Nigeria. The aim of the study was to assess patients’ experiences and satisfaction with nursing care in Calabar, Nigeria.
Materials and Methods
A descriptive design was adopted for this study. Convenience sample of 286 patients in two public hospitals in Calabar (one secondary and one tertiary), participated in the study. The purpose of using a tertiary and a secondary health facility was for comparative data. Patients’ experiences and satisfaction with nursing care were explored using the modified Newcastle Satisfaction with Nursing Scale (NSNS) which was adapted to meet the peculiarities of Nigerian patients). The respondents rated their experience of nursing care on 26 items, using a seven-point Likert scale (1=disagree completely, 7=agree completely). Responses for each item was summed and transformed to give an overall experience score, with a potential range of 0-100, where 100 represent the best possible experience. Respondents rated their satisfaction with various aspect of nursing care using a five point Likert scale (1 = not at all satisfied, 5 = completely satisfied). This section consisted of 19 items. Responses for each item was summed and transformed to give an overall satisfaction score of 1-100, where 100 denoted complete satisfaction. The proposal for this study was approved by the Ethical Committee, University of Calabar Teaching Hospital. Data were computer analyzed using SPSS for Windows version 20. Interrelationships between variables were tested using population t test and independent t test.
Results and Discussion
Majority of the respondents were males 147 (51.4%) and never married 140 (49%) had tertiary education 180 (62.9%) The mean (SD) age of the respondents was 34.13 ± 12.95 Results also indicated that majority of the respondents 202(70.6%) had moderate level of experience with nursing care and satisfaction with nursing care 198(69.2%). The finding is supported by Alhusban, & Abualrub (2009) who carried a study in Jordan with NSNS and the result showed a score of 72% (good) for level of experience of nursing care. Patients’ rating of their level of satisfaction with nursing care as being moderate is also supported by Tang, Soong & Lym (2012). The level of experience with nursing care was not significant (104.29±19.24; t=.262; df=285; p<0.05) while the level of satisfaction with nursing care was significantly high (60.13±14.52; t=3.651; df=285; p<0.05). A comparison of patients' satisfaction with nursing care and experiences with nursing care in the two hospitals indicated that patients were more satisfied with care in the secondary care facility than in the tertiary care facility although there was no significantly statistical difference. The difference in the level of experience and satisfaction with nursing care in the secondary health facility may be related to the introduction of clinical governance and orientation of nurses on this concept in that health facility. The limitation of the result is that it can not be generalize because of the sampling technique that was used and the study did not cover the whole country. The study highlights the need to enhance patients’ satisfaction with nursing care through intervention which will improve nursing care especially in the tertiary care facility.
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