Comparing staff attitudes and patient satisfactions in a home health agency

Patient and staff perceptions of Home Health care delivery were examined in the present study. Opinions from the two groups were surveyed then compared on five perceptual areas. The five areas rated were (a) feelings of ease at home, (b) learning and understanding self-care, (c) trust, (d) quality of care received, and (e) severity of illness. Staff characteristics and patient idiosyncracies were also considered. Overall, patient satisfaction with the Home Health care system was explored. The results indicated a high degree of satisfaction with the amount and appropriateness of Home Health care, confidence about self-care, and feelings of ease at home. All patients returning questionnaires would recommend Home Health services to a friend who may need them. Perhaps more importantly, the provider's opinions exhibited both accordance and discordance with those of the patients surveyed. Accordance was detected in ratings of ease, learning and understanding self-care, trust, and quality of care received at home. Discordance was noted regarding severity-of-illness ratings. As a whole, staff rated the severity of patients' illnesses or injuries as being less severe than did the patients themselves. Independent of primary diagnostic grouping, older patients' illnesses were rated by the staff less severe in nature than those of the younger patients. It was concluded that the Home Health practitioner must guard against legitimizing the illnesses of patients at any age.