Satisfaction in nursing: perspective of the nurse versus the perspective of the patient

Abstract

The double aspect of the satisfaction of the users and the professional satisfaction of the nurses is an indicator of result, valid in the evaluation of the quality of the services. We aim to evaluate the satisfaction of nurses and the satisfaction of patients with nursing care, in a hospital setting. The EAST-Enf scale, the SUCEH21 scale and characterization questions were used. A cross-sectional, descriptive and exploratory, quantitative study was developed in a sample of 124 nurses and 462 patients in northern Portugal. The sample of professionals is predominantly female (82.3%), with an average age of around 42 years. Of the 462 users, the majority are female (53.2%), with a mean age of 57.47 years. The most professionally satisfied nurses are the youngest (84,13), with a lower academic rank (74,80), with a service period of less than 10 years (78,59), who work in the stroke unit (77,10), and those who work in services with democratic leadership (76.6). Among the users, the most satisfied with nursing care are women (2,87), the elderly (2,87), widowers (2,59), retired (2,56), hospitalised in the unit of stroke (3). In nurses’ satisfaction, the determinants, the age of the nurses and the service time stand out. The satisfaction of the users with the nursing care stands out the sex, age, marital status, labor situation, profession and internment service. Overall, there was a direct relationship between the satisfaction of the professionals and the satisfaction of the users. The identification of these relationships is very important in health organizations, constituting a solid tool in decision making and, therefore, in providing better health care.