Can prior hospitalisation experiences influence satisfaction with nursing care? Results in a school-aged children sample

Introduction: Patient satisfaction is considered an important and relevant patient outcome in the nursing field [1], and prior hospitalisation experiences have impact in the overall satisfaction with care [2]. Regarding children satisfaction, authors conceptualise satisfaction through the comparison of previous experiences [3]. This study aims to identify if prior hospitalisation experiences influences satisfaction with nursing care, in school-aged children (7–11 years).
Materials and Methods: An observational, cross-sectional, exploratory-descriptive study with a convenience sample was performed. Data were collected from January 2015 to December 2016. The "Children Care Quality at Hospital" [4] instrument was used after translation and validation to Portuguese [5]. In this questionnaire children were asked to rate nursing care from 1(less satisfied) to 5 (more satisfied). Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS statistical tool (version 24.0). In order to verify the association between the variable’s prior to hospitalisation experience and patient satisfaction, Student's t-test was applied with a 95% confidence interval. Authorisation was obtained from ethics committees in each of the 6 hospitals were the study was applied, and also from the National Data Protection Commission. Results: In this sample (n = 252) children mean age was 8.9 years (SD = 1.4), and it mainly consisted of boys (52.8%, n = 133). Most children had prior hospitalisation experiences (63.5%, n = 160), 35.7% (n = 90) have never been hospitalised before, and 2 children answered, “I do not know”. Nursing care was rated with a score of 4.51 (SD = 0.645). There was no significant difference between having or not having prior hospitalisation experiences and the score attributed by children (t = 1.47; p =.821). Discussion and conclusions: In this sample, children are satisfied with nursing care provided during hospitalisation. In previous studies with adult population, prior experiences seem to have a negative effect on the overall satisfaction [2,6]. Specifically in school-aged children, previous experiences positively influences satisfaction with nursing care [4]. However, this was not verified in our study. We suggest that further studies should be developed some time after the hospitalisation experience, for example 6 months, to understand the most relevant experiences and their influence on the satisfaction with hospital nursing care.