A STUDY TO ASSESS PATIENT'S SATISFACTION WITH QUALITY OF NURSING CARE

INTRODUCTION Patient satisfaction is a concrete criterion for evaluation of health care and therefore quality of nursing care. It provides crucial information for healthcare managers by providing important resources for processes such as those involved in measuring patients’ expectations and satisfaction with nursing care quality, improving nursing service quality through identification of areas of failure and planning and implementing necessary training. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The study was conducted with the aim to assess patient’s satisfaction with quality of nursing care in a Tertiary care hospital and to identify relationship between satisfaction of patients with selected variables METHOD AND MATERIAL This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in a tertiary care hospital of Indian Armed Forces. The study was conducted after taking approval from the ethical committee of the institute. 50 patients from various wards were selected for the study by randomisation method. Critical patients, Patients in isolation wards/ ICU and patients with mental illness were excluded from the study. All participants were apprised of the study carried out on them and their informed consent was obtained. The data was collected from the participants with the use of validated structured questionnaire to assess the patient’s satisfaction with quality of nursing care. The data was collected and analysed statistically. RESULTS Out of all patients, majority of the patients (52%) were aged between 36-50 years and majority of them i.e., 82% were married. Analysis of PSNCQQ (patient’s satisfaction with nursing care quality questionnaire) revealed that for item “Ease of getting information: Willingness of nurses to answer your questions” the highest excellent satisfaction response was given by 24% patients. Item under highest very good satisfaction response was “Information given by nurses: How well nurses communicated with patients, families, and doctors”. The items for which satisfaction levels were lowest were the “The daily routine of the nurses: How well they adjusted their schedules to your needs” and Coordination of care after discharge: Nurses’ efforts to provide for your needs after you left the hospital. Overall, patients were satisfied with the quality of nursing care for most of the variables. Analysis of PSNCQQ for perception‐related items showed that 24% and 72% of participants’ responses for the “Quality of the care and service provided during your stay at the hospital” were excellent and very good respectively. Analysis of PSNCQQ for perception‐related items showed that patients aged between 18-35 years were more satisfied with quality of care. In overall perception about quality of care, males were more satisfied than females. In overall perception about quality of nursing care married were more satisfied. Educated patients are more satisfied with the quality of nursing care