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Patient satisfaction with nursing care and related hospital services at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka

Upul Senarath (Based at Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka)
Nalika S. Gunawardena (Based at Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka)
Benedict Sebastiampillai (Based at National Hospital of Sri Lanka, Colombo, Sri Lanka)
Arosha Senanayake (Based at Sirimavo Bandaranaike Specialised Children's Hospital, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka)
Sachintha Lekamge (Based at Base Hospital Homagama, Homagama, Sri Lanka)
Anushka Seneviratna (Based at General Hospital Ampara, Ampara, Sri Lanka)
Madushan Jinadasa (Based at Sri Jayawardenapura General Hospital, Kotte, Sri Lanka)
Dilshan Wijeratne (Based at Vindana Reproductive Health Center, Colombo, Sri Lanka)

Leadership in Health Services

ISSN: 1751-1879

Article publication date: 25 January 2013

1559

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to assess patient satisfaction with nursing care and related hospital services, and association between satisfaction and patient characteristics at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL).

Design/methodology/approach

A systematically selected sample of 380 patients warded for three to 90 days in general surgical/medical units was interviewed on discharge. Data were collected using a satisfaction instrument previously developed and validated for the same setting, that contained 36 items under five sub‐scales. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to identify factors associated with satisfaction in each sub‐scale.

Findings

The paper finds that the majority of respondents were males (61 percent), aged 35‐64 years (70 percent), educated to GCE (O/L) and above (61 percent), and previously hospitalized (66 percent). The proportion satisfied with “interpersonal care” was 81.8 percent, “efficiency and competency”, 89.7 percent, “comfort and environment”, 59.2 percent, “cleanliness and sanitation”, 48.7 percent, and “personalized and general information”, 37.4 percent. Males reported higher satisfaction (OR varied from 2.29‐2.87, p < 0.001) than females. Patients with GCE (A/L) were less satisfied with “comfort and environment” (OR=0.45, p < 0.05) and “cleanliness and sanitation” (OR=0.45, p < 0.05) compared with those educated below grade 5. Satisfaction with “comfort and environment” was lower among patients from medical (OR=0.51, p < 0.01) rather than from surgical units.

Practical implications

Quality can be improved by assuring comfort, cleanliness, sanitary facilities in wards, and provision of general and personalized instructions. Nursing staff should understand patient characteristics and their expectations when providing care.

Originality/value

This is the first study that described patient satisfaction with nursing care and related supportive services using a validated instrument at the NHSL. The study highlighted aspects of dissatisfaction and recognized patient characteristics that predict satisfaction.

Keywords

Citation

Senarath, U., Gunawardena, N.S., Sebastiampillai, B., Senanayake, A., Lekamge, S., Seneviratna, A., Jinadasa, M. and Wijeratne, D. (2013), "Patient satisfaction with nursing care and related hospital services at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka", Leadership in Health Services, Vol. 26 No. 1, pp. 63-77. https://doi.org/10.1108/17511871311291732

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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