This paper presents the evaluation of a nursing article “Patient Satisfaction with the Quality of Nursing Care” that was written by Anita Karaca and Zehra Durna. In that article, the authors discuss the importance of measuring patients’ satisfaction and its potential drivers. The research aimed to identify and examine key factors that have an impact on the satisfaction of patients with the provided nursing care. The literature review showed that addressing this problem is crucial since the satisfaction of patients contributes to their treatment and also benefits medical institutions.
Evaluating the Research
Research Hypothesis and Design
The article views nurses as a critical factor in the successful healing of patients. Thus, the central question of the research is how nurses can improve their performance to increase the level of patients satisfaction. The paper also hypothesizes that there could be some connections between patients’ satisfaction and their socio-demographic characteristics and medical history. The main variable of the research is the level of satisfaction among patients. The other variables include different socio-demographic features of patients. The authors state that the design of their research is cross-sectional and descriptive. The design seems to be appropriate since the research aimed to observe different groups of patients and identify objective reasons for their satisfaction levels.
Validity and Efficacy of the Research
Perhaps, it would be more useful to examine not the characteristics of patients that correlate with their satisfaction but rather certain qualities and features of nurses. However, it seems that the authors tried to cover the most important drivers of patients’ satisfaction, dependent on nursing care, in their questionnaire. The article achieved its main goal as it revealed that the highest level of patients satisfaction was owing to conscious caring and support from nurses. Moreover, some statistically significant relationships between the satisfaction of patients and their age, level of education, and income were found. It also appeared that the frequency of previous hospitalizations could influence the level of satisfaction.
The Sample and Measurement
The sample consisted of 635 patients who were receiving health care in various hospital units. Since the study was conducted in Turkey, and the patients included in the sample were Turkish speakers, it seems that the results may not be relevant for all cultures. The main instrument of the study was the Patient Satisfaction with Nursing Care Quality Questionnaire (PSNCQQ). This questionnaire asked patients whether they were satisfied with the particular components of nursing care delivered to them. The authors received approval from all participants and the hospital administration. Moreover, the research protocol was endorsed by the special ethics committee. Some statistical techniques were used to measure the PSNCQQ Score as well as to identify relationships between various characteristics of patients and their satisfaction.
Discussing the Results of the Research
It was already mentioned that the highest level of patients satisfaction resulted from conscious caring of nurses. The less obvious finding is that patients were unsatisfied when they did not receive enough information about their condition from nurses. The results of the article allow nurses to improve the quality of their performance as they are now aware, which aspects of caring contribute to the patients’ satisfaction. Moreover, the study revealed specific characteristics of patients that may serve as signs of their potential dissatisfaction with health care. Thus, nurses can pay special attention to patients who possess these characteristics to satisfy them. Finally, patients who have a bigger chance to be satisfied with the quality of nursing may be assigned to less qualified staff, for instance, to practicing students.