Patient expectation and satisfaction with nursing care in Turkey: a literature review.

BACKGROUND

Patient satisfaction is used as an important indicator of care quality and is frequently included in healthcare planning and evaluation. This study presents a review of research on patient expectation and satisfaction with nursing care in Turkey.

AIM

To review the national literature on patient expectations and satisfaction with nursing care.

METHODS

The researchers reviewed 3,089 articles of which 27 were discussed in detail. Of these 3,089 articles, 1,812 were from all issues of 14 Turkish nursing journals which have been published in the last 50 years, and 1,277 articles were from 24 nursing congress and symposium books.

RESULTS

The results of this study are divided into two categories: expectations concerning 'nursing care', and 'satisfaction with nursing care'. The findings show that there exist conceptual and philosophic deficiencies in the approaches to patient satisfaction and that there is a need to use standardized instruments to study and assess patient satisfaction in the future.

CONCLUSION

Over the last 20 years, studies of patient expectation and satisfaction with nursing care have been gaining high importance, but it is also noticed that in a national and philosophical approach the studies are not based on clearly defined concepts. Moreover, it has been concluded that there is a need for valid and reliable tools in the evaluation of satisfaction.