Low Patient Satisfaction Rating: A Case Study

A nurse’s job is to care for patients to the best of their abilities. There are many issues that could determine life or death. One that stands out is not about what medication our patients are getting, or the type of treatment they have for their disease process, but the care and attention nurses give them. Patients always remember how they were treated, and the call lights are in place to help nurses deliver better care. Last semester, the nurse manager said that the patient satisfaction ratings were down to around a range of 40%. This number is extremely alarming. Most other area hospitals have patient satisfaction ratings are in the 80 to 90% range. After hearing that astonishing information, it became apparent why the numbers were so low. Call lights were not being answered by the nurses. Nurses only went to patient rooms to administer medications or special ordered treatment. Although this is only one thing that contributes to the low patient satisfaction ratings, it is one of the most important as well as the easiest. Tzeng and Larson (2014) …show more content…
That may not always be easy to do, but it is why we are in this profession. Call lights are a way patients can have some control over their care. When it comes to call lights we all complain and think “can’t they just relax”, but what we as nurses tend to forget is that being hospitalized is stressful on a patient and they may just call for reassurance. Although nurses don’t always have the time to give a pep talk, it is important to do so. Less anxiety can lead to better outcomes and shorter stays. By having the unit secretary screen calls and the charge nurse step in when the nurse cannot make it to a room, nurses may finish getting their medications together or documenting their assessments. As mentioned earlier, falls can be prevented by timely response to call lights, and heart attacks will not be