Older Patients’ Perceptions of Nurse Caring Behaviors

Abstract

Because patient satisfaction impacts Medicare reimbursement for hospitals today, it is important to look at factors that affect patient satisfaction and patient perceptions of caring. Old-old and oldest old populations are vastly growing and make up the majority of those receiving Medicare benefits. Current research supports older adults’ greater need for relational aspects of care, but little focus has been placed on the effect of non-modifiable factors such as age and education level and perceived health related to patient perceptions of nurse caring behaviors. The purpose of this study was to determine relationships between age, education level, and perceived health and older adult’s perceptions of nurse caring behaviors. A secondary analysis was conducted using data from a quantitative study of nurse caring behaviors using the Caring Assessment Tool (CAT). Of 321 subjects in the original study, s sub-sample of 45 adults age 75 and older who reported education level and perceived health were included. Descriptive statistics and ANOVA were used to analyze the data. Statistical significance was found on the relationship between education and patient CAT scores (p=.003). There was no significant relationship between patient’s perceived health or age and CAT score (p= 0.8). These results show that there is importance in non-modifiable factors, specifically education, when looking at patient perceptions of nurse caring which could impact patient satisfaction scores. Because education is a non-modifiable patient characteristic, healthcare providers must focus on ways to address hospitalized older adult patients’ needs with education levels in mind. Future implications include devising interventions for nurses and other health care staff to improve care for patients of all education levels and how interventions effect patient perceptions of nurse caring. Further study about patients’ perceptions of care is indicated to identify specific needs of patients with varied education levels and their perceptions of nursing care.