Advanced practice nurses: a study of client satisfaction.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the satisfaction of clients with care provided by advanced practice nurses (APNs) in the Wright State University (WSU) Pilot Project. The Pilot Project was created through state legislation that recognized APNs associated with three universities in Ohio for the purpose of granting the APNs title protection, prescriptive authority, and recognition leading to reimbursement.


METHODS
The Interactional Model of Client Health Behavior (Cox, 1982), which proposes that client characteristics and interactions with health professionals determine health outcomes, served as the framework for this descriptive study. The study measured client (n = 506) satisfaction with care delivered by 36 APNs at 26 different practice sites using an adapted Client Satisfaction Tool (CST). The internal consistency of the adapted CST was 0.935.


CONCLUSIONS
Client (n = 506) satisfaction scores ranged from 28 to 50, with a mean score of 47.15 (SD = 4.00). Findings suggest that clients are very satisfied with APNs in the WSU Pilot Project.


CONCLUSIONS
Client satisfaction is one indicator used to determine quality of care. Consumer satisfaction benefits the individual client and provides important information for the health care payer. Measuring and reporting client satisfaction with care provided by APNs may increase the visibility and marketability of APNs.
Bryant
Rebecca
R
T. R. Tigar, MD, Inc., Clarksville, Ohio, USA.
Graham
Margaret Clark
MC
D006801:Humans; D009720:Nurse Clinicians / Q000592:standards*; D009722:Nurse Practitioners / Q000592:standards*; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D009739:Nursing Services / Q000592:standards*; D009820:Ohio; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care