THE RELATIONSHIP OF NURSE-PATIENT AGREEMENT ON THE IMPORTANCE OF OUTCOMES TO PATIENT SATISFACTION AND LENGTH OF STAY (HEALTH, EVALUATION).
Contributors: New York University.
Published: 1985
Number of pages: 120
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between nurse-patient agreement on the ratings of the importance of specified patient outcomes to patient satisfaction with nursing care and length of hospital stay.

The sample included 73 patients who had had cholycystectomies and the nurses who took care of them. Each patient and the nurse who took care of that patient formed a dyad for data analysis purposes. Nurse-patient agreement was measured by the mean of the absolute value of the difference between the rating of one patient and the rating of the nurse caring for that patient on 18 items reworded from the Horn and Swain (1977) outcome measurement tool. The instrument had an alpha coefficient (internal reliability) of .80 or above. The mean difference was used to obtain an agreement score. A high difference meant less agreement, while a low difference score indicated more agreement.

The dependent variable patient satisfaction was measured using the Hinshaw and Atwood (1982) revision of the Risser Patient Satisfaction Instrument (1975). The PSI is 25 item Likert scale. Reliability as measured by a Cronbach Alpha was .91. The dependent variable length of stay was measured as the number of days from day one of hospitalization to the day of discharge.

The hypotheses were tested using multiple regression techniques. The first hypothesis, more nurse patient agreement on the ratings of the importance of specified short term patient outcomes will be associated with increased patient satisfaction with nursing care, was supported at the 99% confidence level. The Beta coefficient, which measures the size of the relationship was -.386; a one standard deviation change in the agreement score was associated with a .38 standard deviation changed in patient satisfaction. This equation controlled for other possible determinants of satisfaction: age and sex, which were not significantly related to satisfaction.

The second hypothesis, more nurse-patient agreement on the ratings of the importance of specified short term patient outcomes will be associated with decreased length of stay in the hospital, was not supported. The regression equation which estimated the relationship between agreement and length of stay controlled for four other variables: age, sex, marital status, and preoperative teaching. Of these only sex was found to be significant at the 95% confidence interval. On average males had a 3.2 days longer length of stay.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-08, Section: B, page: 2624.

Thesis (PH.D.)--NEW YORK UNIVERSITY, 1985.

School code: 0146.