title: Nursing: a key to patient satisfaction.
abstract: Patient satisfaction is receiving greater attention as a result of the rise in pay-for-performance (P4P) and the public release of data from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey. This paper examines the relationship between nursing and patient satisfaction across 430 hospitals. The nurse work environment was significantly related to all HCAHPS patient satisfaction measures. Additionally, patient-to-nurse workloads were significantly associated with patients' ratings and recommendation of the hospital to others, and with their satisfaction with the receipt of discharge information. Improving nurses' work environments, including nurse staffing, may improve the patient experience and quality of care.
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research, School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA. akutney@nursing.upenn.edu
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kutney-Lee
authors.forename: Matthew D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: McHugh
authors.forename: Douglas M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Sloane
authors.forename: Jeannie P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Cimiotti
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Flynn
authors.forename: Donna Felber
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Neff
authors.forename: Linda H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Aiken
mesh_terms: D001294:Attitude to Health; D004649:Employee Incentive Plans; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006272:Health Facility Environment; D006801:Humans; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D014481:United States; D016526:Workload