The Relationships between Patients' Perceptions of Nurse Caring Behaviors, Nurses' Perceptions of Nurse Caring Behaviors and Patient Satisfaction in the Emergency Department

Background: Approximately 100 million people seek care in Emergency Departments (ED) yearly which can be overwhelming for many Emergency Department nurses. Thus, caring for these patients and meeting their needs is challenging for Emergency Department nurses. It is the patients’ perceptions of the first caring encounters in the ED that can have a significant impact on patient satisfaction. 

Objective: The purpose of the study is to examine the relationships between patients’ perceptions of nurse caring behaviors, nurses’ perceptions of nurse caring behaviors and patient satisfaction in the Emergency Department.

Methods: This was a descriptive cross sectional study that examined the relationships between patients’ perceptions of nurse caring behaviors, nurses’ perceptions of nurse caring behaviors and patient satisfaction in the Emergency Department. Eighty-six nurse/patient dyads participated in this study. Nurse participants completed the Nurse’s Background Information questionnaire and the Caring Behaviors Inventory-24. Patient participants completed the Patient Background Information questionnaire, the Caring Behaviors Inventory- 24 (CBI-24) (Wu, Larrabee & Putnam, 2006), and the Patient Satisfaction Instrument (PSI) (Hinshaw & Atwood, 1982). 

 Results: Data collected and analyzed indicated that there was a positive relationship between patients’ perceptions of nurse caring behaviors and patient satisfaction in the Emergency Department. However, patient satisfaction was statistically significant and negatively associated (β= -.41, p<.001) for the categories of CBI dyad difference scores for the group of nurses who rated themselves more caring than patients rated the nurses.  In addition, patient satisfaction scores were not statistically significant for nurse gender, marital status, ethnicity, professional education, employment status or ED experience. There was no statistical significance detected for patient satisfaction scores in relation to patient gender, race, ethnicity, marital status, highest level of education, employment status, previous ED visits and Emergency Severity Index.  Additionally, there were statistically significant differences (p<.001) between nurses’ and patients’ perceptions on the subscales of the CBI. These differences were noted on the assurance and connectedness subscales.

 

Discussion: This study indicated that patient satisfaction was significantly related to the patients’ perceptions of nurse caring behaviors in the ED. The results of this study may help ED nurses to meet the need and expectations of ED patients to deliver individualized patient care.