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A correlational study examined patients' (n=335) reports of nurse caring and satisfaction with nursing care, using the Caring Behaviors Inventory and Patient Satisfaction Instrument. A strong, positive correlation (r=0.78, p<.001, R2=61.46%) was found. The outcomes of this study have important implications for adult health nurses.
Many investigators have asserted the importance of human care as a central focus of nursing (Cronin & Harrison, 1988; Gaut, 1983; Leininger, 1980, 1984, 1986; Mayer, 1987; McNamara, 1995; Riemen, 1986a; Valentine, 1989a, 1989b; Watson et al., 1979; Watson, 1979, 1988a, 1988b, 1988b; Wolf, Giardino, Osborne, & Ambrose, 1994). Others have encouraged nurses to describe nurses' caring so that this key constituent of nursing practice is more distinct for its practitioners (Fox, Aiken, & Messikomer, 1990). However, few researchers have linked patients' reports of nurse caring to the outcome of patient satisfaction with hospital services.
It is particularly important to examine the relationship of caring to patient satisfaction at this point in time. Prospective payment systems have dramatically shortened lengths of stay in hospitals and may contribute to changes in patients' perceptions of nurse caring and satisfaction with health care services. The time that nurses previously allotted to direct care has been reduced, possibly restricting its effects (Lea, 1994). Accordingly, the purpose of this ex post facto study was to determine the relationship between former patients' reports of nurse caring and patient satisfaction. The revised Caring Behaviors Inventory (CB[ (Wolf et al., 1994) and the Patient Satisfaction Instrument (PS) (Hinshaw & Atwood, 1981) were used to establish the strength of association between nurse caring and patient satisfaction as reported by former patients, who were hospitalized for medical conditions or surgical procedures. Specifically, the research addressed the question: What relationship exists between reports of nurse caring and patient satisfaction in patients hospitalized in the previous year for medical conditions and surgical procedures?
Review of Literature
According to Watson (1988a, 1988b, 1988c), caring preserves human dignity in cure-dominated health care systems and becomes a standard by which cure is measured. Thus caring may be associated with patient outcomes, including speed of patient recovery and discharge from the hospital, and patient satisfaction with health care services.
Nurse caring was defined in this study as an interactive and intersubjective process that occurs during...