Correlation Between Nurses' Caring Behaviors and Patients' Satisfaction

Background: Nowadays, the patients' satisfaction is used as a criterion to measure the hospitals' service quality. However, there are controversial results about the aspect of caring behaviors which mostly affects the patients' satisfaction. Objectives: The current study aimed to assess the relationship between caring behaviors and patients' satisfaction. Patients and Methods: A descriptive correlation study was conducted on 250 randomly selected patients in Beheshti Hospital in Kashan, Iran. A questionnaire was used to gather the data. Degree of satisfaction was measured on a five-point scale using the patient satisfaction instrument, and caring behavior was measured on a six-point scale by caring behavior inventory. Results: A significant positive correlation was observed between caring behavior mean score and that of the patient satisfaction (P < 0.001, r = 0.565). The subscale of "knowledge and professional skills" of the caring behavior inventory obtained the highest and the subscale of "respectful deference to others" got the lowest mean scores. In the patient satisfaction instrument, the two subscales of "technical - professional care" and "patient education" gained the highest and the lowest mean scores respectively. Conclusions: The caring behaviors of nurses and patient education can increase the patient satisfaction.