Nurse Caring Behavior and Patient Satisfaction

Nurse Caring Behavior and Patient Satisfaction

The emergency section is where patients commonly interact with healthcare workers first before proceeding for further treatment and consultation. Various problems arise in this section, as patients commonly complain of long waiting times or poor treatment from the personnel. In the emergency department, research by Taylor, Wolfe and Cameron (2017) shows that at least 33.4% of patients make complaints related to patient treatment, such as inadequate diagnosis and inadequate treatment; 31.6% complain of communication problems such as rudeness, discourtesy, and poor staff attitude whereas 11.9% complain of issues linked to delayed treatment. Communication remains a major factor in the dissatisfaction rates of patients in the emergency department. Given that patients first interact with nurses and other healthcare personnel in the emergency department, they form a negative perception of the quality of services that they will receive when they are treated poorly. In a different setting, complaints were made in regard to nurses’ disinterest in the needs of patients as observed in their lack of calling the patient’s name or being rude to patients who make certain requests like a blanket when it is cold (Surbakti, Novieastari & Purwaningsih, 2019). These issues in the emergency department are likely to impact negatively on the satisfaction levels of patients and their perception of the quality of services provided. These issues are linked to matters of caring relationships between the nurses and the patients in the emergency department.

Perceived nurse caring behavior improves general patient satisfaction in clinical settings. The concept of patient experience is highly important in the current clinical setting, and it is generally associated with patient satisfaction. Patient satisfaction has become one of the commonly used ways of determining the quality of care. In the emergency setting, caring behaviors by nurses are of high importance. According to Noor, Maria, and Agianto (2016), the emergency nursing service system mandates the role of nurses who can pay attention to the behavior of patient comfort and caring. Caring offered in an emergency room is very important in lifesaving procedures. It is likely to impact the psychology of patients in regard to the quality of care that they will receive. Comfort and caring behavior demonstrated by nurses, therefore, positively impact patient satisfaction.

The key concepts in this study are caring relationships and patient satisfaction. Patient satisfaction can be measured by determining the aspect to be measured, in this case, the nurse caring perception, and then developing valid and reliable questions, randomly obtaining samples from the patient population, and making use of standard techniques like questionnaires, telephone, or mail surveys to obtain results. These surveys are subjective, but the results can be turned into meaningful, actionable, and quantifiable data. The notion of nurse caring perception is also subjective and dependent on the experience of the patient in the clinical setting. This can also be measured through surveys, interviews, or face-to-face interactions with patients.

According to Jean Watson, the core of the caring theory is that humans cannot be treated as objects, and they cannot also be separated from nature, self, others, and the general workforce. One of the 10 carative factors is nurturing, which involves caring, trusting, and helping relationships. Caring is an important and unique concept in nursing, which is described as the human act of doing something as people, to people, for people, and with people (Oluma & Abadiga, 2020). It can be effectively demonstrated interpersonally and lead to improved satisfaction of human needs. The caring philosophy has a significant meaning to the patient, and this can result in increased patient satisfaction, which is a major indicator of the quality of service in the healthcare setting (Surbakti, Novieastari & Purwaningsih, 2019). Caring criteria in behavior and attitude assure good nursing service.

Caring has traditionally been considered the basis for how and why nurses advocate, teach, and practice. Nurse caring is more than the general notion of giving, loving, honoring, nurturing, and attending to the needs of a patient. It is dependent on the specific needs of the patient as well as the healthcare setting (Potter & Fogel, 2013). Once the needs of the patient and the healthcare setting have been evaluated, nurses can decide on the appropriate caring approach for a patient. Caring relationships are important in all settings, but the emphasis has been placed on acute and critical settings and perceived patient satisfaction. Recently, more studies have been conducted on the importance of caring relationships in the emergency setting.

Patient satisfaction is a critical factor in evaluating the quality of nursing services given in hospitals. Patient satisfaction can be evaluated based on different dimensions such as reliability, empathy, assurance, tangible, and responsiveness (Agussalim et al., 2020). It provides important information for healthcare managers by facilitating crucial resources for processes like those involved in the measurement of patients’ satisfaction and satisfaction with the quality of nursing care, enhancing nursing service quality by identifying the areas of failure and planning and implementing training where necessary (Karaca & Durna, 2019). Once healthcare organization managers are able to identify the expectations of patients, they can adjust the performance services accordingly to meet these expectations. The feedback obtained should inform the organization to make changes where necessary and be able to meet patient expectations. Caring relationships with nurses form an important part of the level of satisfaction among patients. The experiences of patients with nurses, particularly in the emergency room, are crucial to the satisfaction levels of patients.

The emergency room is one that needs full-service caring. It is the first service offered to patients, particularly those who come in painful conditions requiring more services. For most nurses, the job in the emergency room can be the most challenging and stressful, given the high number of individuals and the complexity of their needs (Surbakti, Novieastari & Purwaningsih, 2019; Bucco, 2015). Realizing caring behaviors in emergency services requires more effort. For individuals who are critically ill or in pain, more attention is needed. Caring behavior is expressed as a feeling that offers a change in behavior, work, and safety according to standards. When nurses offer nursing care with a touch of affection, caring, presence, kindness, and always listening, the patient and their family will feel happy and become more trusting and comfortable with the nurse (Haryana, 2019). This would mean increased levels of patient satisfaction. Lack of empathy or perceived lack of care and concern from the nurse can cause increased levels of stress to the patient.

One of the major problems experienced in the emergency department is the long wait time for patients. Long waiting time is likely to increase dissatisfaction levels among patients, and it is also likely to heighten the risk of mortality and morbidity. Research shows that the period of waiting time before emergency department care, the organization of staff in the emergency department, patients’ evaluation of care by nurses and doctors, and the quality of received information were the most significant variables linked with general satisfaction with services provided in the emergency department (Spechbach et al., 2019). Some patients are even likely to leave without treatment when the waiting time is longer than they anticipated. Whereas some technological solutions can be implemented to enhance the experience of patients or reduce waiting time in the emergency unit, there are also practical factors that can be used. One of them is better caring relationships among nurses.

While patients await treatment, they are likely agitated. This agitation can be worsened by poor communication manifested in the form of rudeness by nurses. It is understandable that nurses working in the emergency department are usually understaffed and stressed from the large numbers of people presenting in the hospital. However, patient agitation can be lessened by showing empathy, understanding, and care for the way that patients feel. A positive patient experience is linked with increased clinical outcomes, better hospital reputations, and increased revenue. Evidence shows that good patient experience is positively linked to desired hospital outcomes, such as reduced rates of mortality and patient readmission (Thomas, Newcomb & Fusco, 2019). In order to make the experience of the patients better as they await treatment, nurses can be expected to develop a more caring relationship with them. This can be done by showing concern and understanding for the problems experienced by the patient and offering hope of immediate and quality treatment. Assuring the patient and even developing a rapport by attempting to get their names can go a long way in making the negative experience of long waiting times better.

Generally, this paper shows the importance of nurse care in enhancing the level of satisfaction and the perception of the quality of services received in the clinical setting. Nurse caring behavior is important in enhancing patient satisfaction rates, particularly in the emergency unit. This is a unit that is commonly understaffed and crowded. The high ratio of patients to nurses makes it difficult for patient-centered care to be offered. The burnout, weariness, and stress experienced by emergency department nurses are likely to impact negatively on their attitude and behavior towards patients. For patients waiting for long periods of time in the emergency area, agitation is likely to take place, and this might cause poor interactions with the nurse. When the nurses fail to show concern and care for the needs of the patient, the level of dissatisfaction is likely to increase. This can also lead to negative perceptions about the quality of service of the hospital, hence resulting in poor hospital reputation and loss of revenue.

The manner in which patients perceive a caring behavior or attitude might be different from the way that the nurses perceive their behavior and attitude. Further research is needed to develop a set of behaviors and attitudes that can be considered caring for both the patient and nurses. The subjective nature of satisfaction levels and caring behavior is also likely to make the measurement of satisfaction and caring behavior difficult. However, with more research, a more inclusive form of measurement with wide-ranging questions can be incorporated. Patient satisfaction is a very important indicator of the quality of care, and this shows the importance of developing caring relationships to increase patient satisfaction.

References

Agussalim, M.A., Nasir, M., Podding, T.,& Rahman, A. (2020). Caring Behavior of Nurses Increases Level of Client’s Satisfaction in Clinical Area. American Journal of Biomedical Science and Research, 10(5), 408-417.

Bucco, T. (2015). The relationships between patients’ perceptions of nurse caring behaviors, nurses’ perceptions of nurse caring behaviors, and patient satisfaction in the emergency department (Doctoral dissertation, Seton Hall University).

Haryani, A. (2019). Predictors of Nurse’s Caring Behavior towards Patients with CriticalIllness. KnE Life Sciences, 12-22.

Karaca, A., & Durna, Z. (2019). Patient satisfaction with the quality of nursing care. Nursing open, 6(2), 535-545.

Noor, S., Maria, I., & Agianto, A. (2016). The relationship between caring, comfort, and patient satisfaction in the emergency room, ratu zalecha hospital, South Kalimantan, indonesia. Belitung Nursing Journal, 2(6), 156-163.

Oluma, A., & Abadiga, M. (2020). Caring behavior and associated factors among nurses working in Jimma University specialized hospital, Oromia, Southwest Ethiopia, 2019. BMC Nursing, 19(1), 1-7.

Potter, D. R., & Fogel, J. (2013). Nurse caring: A review of the literature. International Journal of Advanced Nursing Studies, 2(1), 40.

Spechbach, H., Rochat, J., Gaspoz, J. M., Lovis, C., & Ehrler, F. (2019). Patients’ time perception in the waiting room of an ambulatory emergency unit: a cross-sectional study. BMC Emergency Medicine, 19(1), 1-10.

Surbakti, S., Novieastari, E., & Purwaningsih, S. (2019). Optimizing caring behavior in the emergency room. International Journal of Scientific and Technology Research, 8(9), 1767-1771.

Taylor, D. M., Wolfe, R., & Cameron, P. A. (2017). Complaints from emergency department patients largely result from treatment and communication problems. Emergency Medicine, 14(1), 43-49.

Thomas, D., Newcomb, P., & Fusco, P. (2019). Perception of caring among patients and nurses. Journal of patient experience, 6(3), 194-200.

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Summary: A theory can be used to guide practice. This assignment is an exercise in supporting a clinical practice with theory and evidence.

Directions: Identify an outcome of nursing practice in your area of practice that can be improved. For example, if you work in home health, you may identify that throw rug use by fall-risk patients is too prevalent. You may be able to use the problem that inspired the theory concepts that you developed in week two.

Briefly support why it is a problem with evidence from the literature. This is not the major focus of the assignment, so do not elaborate.

Create clinical nursing (not medical) theory in the form Concept A | Proposition | Concept B. Think of the structure like two nouns and a verb. While the term proposition is much more complex in the dictionary, in our use it is the connecting term between the two concepts. Examples include Concept A improving Concept B, Concept A is related to Concept B, when Concept A increases, then Concept B also increases, etc. When you get to research, you will explore this further as you develop independent and dependent variables. How to use these statistics will be in research and statistics courses.

This clinical theory is identified as an empirical theory when you get to the C-T-E model later in this course. It is empirical in that they can be measured.

Identify and define your concepts. Identify how they could be measured in a research study. Be careful that you do not use compound concepts. If you find the words “and” or “or” in your theory, you are probably too complex.

If you research your question and seek funding, you will need a theoretical model to guide the research. In our assignment, we are using Watson. You will identify the concepts in Watson’s theories that are represented by the concepts you are using in your clinical theory. Match the proposition in her theory with your proposition. To help, the 10 Caritas Processes are Concept A. Choose the one that matches your concept. To clarify, let’s look at Caritas 1 Embrace and use it in middle-range theory. Sustaining humanistic-altruistic values by the practice of loving-kindness, compassion, and equanimity with self/others (Concept A – Very complex and abstract) improves subjective inner healing (Concept B).

Remember that the paper is not about the problem. It is about constructing a clinical theory and matching it to a middle-range theory and conceptual model your clinical theory represents.

Conclude the paper with your discoveries made in your readings and the impact on the nursing profession of your discoveries. Explore briefly discover questions that require further research. Summarize the paper in the conclusion.

Present your outcome in an APA formatted paper that meets the University’s standards for a written assignment.