Patient satisfaction with nursing care in a colorectal surgical population

This paper describes one arm of a much larger, multi-site study whose hypothesis was that evidence-based nursing practice is more effective than routine nursing care in improving patient outcomes and health gain. This arm of the study investigated patient satisfaction as an outcome measure for those patients undergoing colorectal surgery. The study's relevance for nurses is in the potential feedback for reviewing nursing practice and health care delivery. Patient satisfaction with nursing care was measured through a validated questionnaire, the SERVQUAL, followed by interviews with a percentage of the study population. The results of this arm of the study confirm the importance of measuring patient satisfaction through a triangulated method which investigates thoroughly, providing feedback for continuous quality improvement. The in-depth interviews provided greater insight into the results of the questionnaire, enabling clear feedback to nursing staff at the different sites of the study. Results of the questionnaire revealed age, sex and education levels of patients as major influences on individual perceptions of nursing care. Patients whose surgery resulted in stomas were also less satisfied with health-care delivery.