Correlates of hospitalized patients' perceptions of service quality

The purpose of this study was to examine hospital patients' perceptions of service quality in relation to four independent variables: (a) nurses' perceptions of human resource practices, (b) nurses' perceptions of autonomy in practice, (c) patient satisfaction with nursing care, and (d) patients' perceptions of organizational climate for service. The sample consisted of 102 nurse-patient dyads in an acute care hospital. Patients responded to the Modified Health Care Service Performance Instrument, the revised LaMonica-Oberst Patient Satisfaction Scale, and the Organizational Climate for Service Semantic Differential. Nurses responded to the Employee Turnover Diagnostic and the Dempster Practice Behaviors Scale. Two of the four correlational hypotheses were supported. Patient satisfaction with nursing care and patients' perceptions of organizational climate for service were each positively related to patients' perceptions of service quality. A multivariate regression hypothesis was not supported. Failure to support two theoretically based correlational hypotheses may be related to methodological problems experienced with dyadic research.