Is Nurse Satisfaction Associated with Hospital Length of Stay - Research Proposal Example

? Is Nurse Satisfaction Associated With Hospital Length of Stay? Lecturer: The research proposal provides abrief introduction and reveals the way patient’s satisfaction has become a common tool for examining the effective services delivered to patients. The researcher provides a review of literature that analyzes the way nurse satisfaction is associated with hospital length of stay. The researcher provides the proposed methods of conducting research, including qualitative methods such as use of structured and semi-structured interviews, use of questioners and sample techniques. The researcher reveals the way how use of fieldwork studies and data collection from the literature review can deliver adequate information about the topic under study. The study provides a discussion that reveals the results or findings from the literature review regarding the topic. Lastly, it includes a timetable that shows the way the researcher will conduct activities within the specified period. Is Nurse Satisfaction Associated With Hospital Length of Stay? Introduction Patient satisfaction has increasingly become an assessment tool for assessing the quality of services that the health care organizations provide to patients. It has become a driving force for guiding health care providers across the globe on the way of improving patient care. The length of stay in hospitals is linked with the quality of services offered in hospitals, thus determining patient satisfaction. Patient satisfaction is one of the considerable outcomes, which is linked with the nurse satisfaction in the health care sector. It makes nurses become satisfied with the services they offer to their clients. The hospital length of stay (LOS) in linked to nurses’ satisfaction because it determines the overall patient satisfaction, patterns of nurse practices, patients’ preferences and the resources utilized in hospitals. Thus, the hospital LOS in nowadays described in terms of hospital costs in the context of the way healthcare providers can reduce such costs and deliver effective services that can satisfy patients. The interaction of nurses with their patients is essential because it enables them to understand the needs of patients. This is crucial because it helps nurses to deliver effective services, thus reducing the patient’s length of stay in hospitals. Literature Review The literature indicates that hospital LOS has been linked to patient satisfaction and the nurses’ quality of services they offer to patients, hence becoming satisfied with their work. Tokunaga and Imanaka (2002) reveal that hospital LOS has a significant correlation with the health outcomes including patient satisfaction and hospital care. The study analysis carried out in the Japanese hospital setting revealed that there is a higher connection between hospital LOS and nurse satisfaction. The study employed a cross-sectional study involving random sampling of a number of in-patients, older patients and nurse working in various hospitals. The results provided unique satisfaction from the sampled groups, including the nursing care skills and mutual rapport created between nurses and patients that were all predictors for the total satisfaction (Rotter et al., 2010). However, from nurses’ viewpoints, the patient satisfaction is measured by the workload in hospitals. Hospitals with few staff nurses tend to have a higher rate of health LOS, thus contributing to poor results and low work performance. The research study indicates that many hospitals may have a ratio of 1,000 nurses to 2,000 patients – something that contributes to lower services and longer stay of patients in hospitals (Stratton, 2008). This may impact the performance of nurses, hence poor output. Increasing the staffing levels of nurses in hospitals is not easy because of various factors. These include the complicated nature of registering nurses, new medical technologies and the reduced LOS average. The literature review conducted by Samina, Gj, Tabish, Samiya and Riyaz (2008) found out that the nurses have significant influence on the outcomes of patients. The outcomes from the review pinpointed the quality of services, patient hygiene and improvement of services, thus fulfilling the needs of patients effectively. This is essential because it enabled nurses to achieve satisfaction and reduce the hospital LOS of patients. According to Yang and Huang (2005), nurse satisfaction can be determined through the job position and payment they receive, thus delivering effective services to patients. These factors can be linked to the nurse satisfaction with the services they offer to patients, hence reducing the hospital LOS (Bjertnaes, Sjetne, & Iversen, 2012). This is because nurses will have morale of working hard in order to ensure all patients receives effective services to avoid prolonging the stay of patients in hospitals. Methods The research will employ various qualitative research methods in order to determine whether nurse satisfaction is associated with hospital LOS. The qualitative method will involve the use of structured and semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and descriptive methods. The researcher will use descriptive and inferential methods in examining the service provision by nurses to patients and their connection with the hospital LOS. This is essential because it will enable the researcher to determine the correlation between nurse satisfaction and hospital LOS. The researcher will use questionnaires to collect data and examine the patient outcomes. The questionnaires will be structured and distributed to various nurses and inpatients in various hospitals. The researcher will distribute the pre-tested questionnaires to nurses, and patients who are ready to be discharged from hospital. The researcher will then retrieve the questionnaire immediately after the completion and start analyzing the data with the help of a suitable statistical toolkit. Additionally, the researcher will employ a convenience sampling to both selected nurses, and patients who have stayed in hospitals for more than one month and who are ready to be discharged from hospitals. The research would use a sample size of the required population and randomly select the target patients, thus distributing the questionnaires to them. Apart from sampling, he or she will use field notes and secondary sources from journal articles or other literature materials in order to collect adequate information. Discussion The overall perceptions identified upon the literature review revealed that nurses have significant correlation to the hospital LOS. The literature provided some of the case analysis through which the researchers employed various methods to determine whether the nurse satisfaction is associated with hospital LOS. It was found out that nurse satisfaction is determined by the position they hold in hospitals, payment and the relationships they create with their patients. This is essential because it enables them to deliver effective services to patients, thus helping patients to meet their expectations. This will reduce the patient’s stay in hospitals for a long time, hence making health organizations avoid the associated hospital costs for such patients staying for a long time. This will, in turn, benefit nurses and make them satisfied with their work. It was found out that patients received satisfaction through effective services offered to them, thus reducing their stay in hospitals. Therefore, the effective services that nurses offer to patients also enabled them to determine their satisfaction. This is because the effective services could reduce the number of hospital LOS for patients since they get well faster. However, other studies indicated that the nurse’s workload determined their satisfaction. This is linked with the hospital LOS in that when nurses are more than patients, then some patients will not receive effective services; thus they will continue to stay in hospitals. Timetable Activity No of Weeks (WK) WK 1 WK 2 WK 3 WK 4 Distribute structured and semi-structured interviews to in-patients and nurses 2.00-9.00 p.m. 10.00-12 noon 1-1.30 p.m. 8.00-9.30am Distribute questionnaires to various hospitals Sample the targeted population 3.00- 4.10p.m. 7.30-9.00a.m. 2.30-3.30p.m 4.00-5.00p.m. Carry out field surveys and utilize literature reviews to collect information 6.30-12.30 p.m. 11.20-3.00p.m. 12.00-4-20p.m 8.30-2.00 p.m. Analyze data with the help of a suitable statistical toolkit. 8.30-9.30am 11.30-12.30p.m 3.10- 4.10p.m. 7.00-9.00p.m References Bjertnaes, O. A., Sjetne, I. S., & Iversen, H. H. (2012, January 01). Overall patient satisfaction with hospitals: Effects of patient-reported experiences and fulfillment of expectations. Bmj Quality & Safety, 21(1), 39–46. Rotter, T., Kinsman, L., James, E., Machotta, A., Gothe, H., Willis, J., Snow, P., Kugler, J. (2010, January 01). Clinical pathways: Effects on professional practice, patient outcomes, length of stay and hospital costs. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (online), 3. Samina, M., Gj, Q., Tabish, S., Samiya, M., & Riyaz, R. (2008, January 01). Patient's perception of nursing care at a large teaching hospital in India. International Journal of Health Sciences, 2(2), 92–100. Stratton, K. M. (2008, April 01). Pediatric nurse staffing and quality of care in the hospital setting. Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 23(2), 105–114. Tokunaga, J., & Imanaka, Y. (2002, January 01). Influence of length of stay on patient satisfaction with hospital care in Japan. International Journal for Quality in Health Care: Journal of the International Society for Quality in Health Care / Isqua, 14(6), 493–502. Yang, K. P., & Huang, C. K. (2005, January 01). The effects of staff nurses' morale on patient satisfaction. The Journal of Nursing Research: Jnr, 13(2), 141–52. Read More