Assessment of patients’ level of satisfaction with nursing care during hospitalisation in the General Surgery Ward

Introduction
Quality of nursing care shows the extent to which nursing care contributes to reach the desired effects of nursing. To measure the quality of medical services one should examine patient satisfaction of the given services.

Aim of the study
The aim of this study was to evaluate the level of patient satisfaction of nursing care during hospitalisation at the Department of General Surgery in the Saint Lucas Provincial Hospital in Tarnow.

Material and methods
The study was conducted among a group of 100 patients hospitalised at the Department of General Surgery in the Saint Lucas Provincial Hospital in Tarnow, who were subject to a planned surgery. This group consisted of 47 women and 53 men. This research was based on a diagnostic opinion poll. The Newcastle Satisfaction with Nursing Scale (NSNS) – an instrument for assessment of quality of nursing care – was used as the research tool. The research tool consisted of three parts containing 48 closed questions, one open-ended question, and the respondents’ characteristics.

Results
The nursing care was most commonly (53%) evaluated by patients as very good, by 30% of them as good, and by 15% as fair enough. Only a few individuals considered it bad or very bad. The average level of satisfaction reached 78.67 points (SD = 18.19) on a scale from 0 to 100 points. The results varied from 7.89 up to 100 points. Half the people did not exceed 82.89 points. According to 28% of patients there are means to improve nursing care, but 24% of respondents claim that there is no possibility for improvement. 48% of patients did not have any opinion about that.

Conclusions
The research results’ analysis shows that the nursing care at the Department of General Surgery was rated as very good or good by the majority of patients. Additionally, along with the increase of the rate of satisfaction with nursing care, satisfaction with other aspects of care grew as well. Patients who had been hospitalised at the Department of General Surgery for a longer time were more satisfied with nursing care. Few respondents gave examples of improvement of the quality of nursing care.