Abstract:
This descriptive, correlational study was designed to describe levels of consumer satisfaction with emergency department (ED) nursing and to identify the key determinants of satisfaction
with ED nursing in a regional New Zealand hospital. The relationship between satisfaction
with ED nursing and with overall satisfaction with the ED visit was also explored. Satisfaction is an important indicator of the quality of healthcare and an understanding of satisfaction and its determinants has the potential to improve healthcare services and consumer health outcomes. The study employed a survey design using the Consumer Emergency Care Satisfaction Scale (CECSS) which is an internationally recognised tool that has demonstrable reliability and validity. It consists of 19 items divided between two subscales - Caring and Teaching. Respondents indicate on a five point Likert scale the extent to which they agree or disagree with each item. In addition to the 19 items in the scale, respondents were also asked to provide some consumer characteristic data and to answer two open-ended questions. The survey was posted to a convenience sample of 410 ED attendees within 24-48 hours of their visit to the emergency department. The final sample comprised 100 completed or partially completed surveys. The majority (n = 65, 88%) were either satisfied or very satisfied with ED nursing. There were no statistically significant relationships between any consumer characteristics and satisfaction; however the following visit characteristics were demonstrated to affect levels of satisfaction - triage category, self-rated acuity, the times consumers arrived at and were discharged from the ED, being able to differentiate between health professionals, being kept informed about the visit and any delays, length of stay (LOS), and number of previous visits to the emergency department. There was a strong positive correlation (r = 0.571,
p = 0.000) between consumer satisfaction with ED nursing and with overall satisfaction with the visit. Thematic analysis of the data from the question about what consumers liked about ED
nursing revealed four themes - personal qualities of the nurse, professional qualities of the nurse, interpersonal qualities of the nurse, and miscellaneous comments. Thematic analysis of
the data from the question about what the nurse could have done to make the visit better also
revealed four themes - nothing, staffing/service, information giving, and the environment. The
study concludes that ED consumers want to know who their nurses are and to have nurses who
communicate well with them and keep them informed about their visit. The most significant
implications and challenges for researchers are in exploring the area around the consumer health journey as it is these visit characteristics that this study has demonstrated affect levels of
satisfaction with ED nursing.
