Comparing the Patient’s Satisfaction With Educational Performance of the Physicians and the Nurses

Abstract

Background: Patient education is one of the most basic patient rights. It has multiple benefits including decreased patient anxiety, increased patient adherence to treatment programs, and ultimately improvement of healthcare service quality. Patients, especially those with chronic conditions, make daily decisions about illness self-management. Given the nature of their professions, physicians and nurses have more responsibility regarding patient education. Objectives: This study compared patient's satisfaction with educational performance of physicians to that of nurses at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. Patients and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed in 2013 with 231 patients hospitalized in Mashhad-based hospitals affiliated with Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. Sampling was performed nonrandomly using quota sampling. Data collection tools were a demographic information questionnaire and separate questionnaires for satisfaction with educational performance of physicians and nurses. Data were analyzed in SPSS (11.5) using t- and Wilcoxon’s tests. Results: There were 231 participants (men: 55.3%). Of them, 58.9% of the patients were satisfied with educational performance of nurses and 50.6% were satisfied with that of physicians. To compare satisfaction with physicians’ (66.2 ± 23.4) and nurses’ (74.1 ± 24.1) educational performances, mean total satisfaction points out of 100 were obtained. Independent t-test showed a significant difference in this regard (P = 0.02). Conclusions: Nurses and physicians’ educational roles should be examined in the authors’ healthcare system. Further surveys are needed to find and assess individual and organizational approaches to improve physicians’ and nurses’ educational performances