Satisfaction with nursing care and the level of illness acceptance in surgical and non-surgical wards – a single-center study

Aim. to assess the correlation between patient satisfaction with nursing care in surgical and non-surgical departments in a university hospital and the level of illness acceptance. Material and methods. We conducted the study using a diagnostic survey method with standardized questionnaires: the Newcastle satisfaction with nursing scales (NSNS) and the Acceptance of Illness Scale (AIS). We invited patients from three departments of the university hospital, hospitalized for at least 2 nights, to participate in the study. Out of 210 questionnaires provided, 121 (57.6%) were returned correctly completed. We performed statistical analysis using the IBM SPSS. We considered p≤0.05 values to be significant. Results. The average AIS score was 24.2 points. The average Nursing care experiences score was 64.5, comparable in all groups. The average satisfaction score was 72.7. A statistically significant difference occurred between two departments – laryngology and neurology. Both aspects of the NSNS scale significantly positively correlated with level of disease acceptance (r=0.83, p<0.001, r=0.74; p<0.001). Conclusions. Patient satisfaction depends on many individual factors, above all on the patient’s personal experiences and the level of illness acceptance. AIS was the strongest predictor of experiences and satisfaction, regardless of the department, hospitalization time, age, gender and education of the respondents.