Consumer satisfaction with nursing care in a rural community hospital emergency department

The article describes a study undertaken to assess patient satisfaction with nursing care in a rural hospital emergency department with respect to psychological safety, discharge teaching, information giving, and technical competence. This descriptive research utilized Davis' Consumer Emergency Care Satisfaction Scale to determine the degree to which 52 patients perceived overall satisfaction with nursing care. Findings indicated that patients were satisfied with nursing care. No statistically significant effect of gender or education level on consumer satisfaction or on any subscale was detected, but African American consumers were less satisfied with discharge teaching, which may suggest that discharge teaching should reflect the cultural diversity of consumers presenting to the emergency department. Nursing staff may need to spend more time with rural African American consumers. Staff may need to be inserviced to meet the cultural and educational needs of African Americans.