The Nursing Practice Environment and Patients' Satisfaction with Nursing Care in a Hospital Context

Nursing, being a profession in health, aims to improve the quality of the response to patients' demands, which have repercussions on the attitudes, behaviors and performance of nurses. Background. The aim of the study was to evaluate the relationships among the nursing practice environment, nurse-patient interactions and patients' satisfaction with nursing care in a hospital context. Methods. The study applied a descriptive analysis. Based on the initial exploration of the data, we decided to perform a simple linear regression of the dimensions of the scales. Results. The latent variables and interactions between the different dimensions of the three constructs (the nursing practice environment (PES-NWI), nurse-patient interactions (NPIS-22-PT) and patients' satisfaction in the hospital context (SAPSNC-18)) were submitted to confirmatory analysis. The model was statistically significant, with a good fit with the data (chi(2)/gl = 128.6/41 (0.000); GFI = 0.900; AGFI = 0.831; TLI = 0.910; CFI = 0.907; RMSEA = 0.102). Conclusions. The study showed favorable rates of overall satisfaction on the part of patients, such as the nurses' skills in dealing with their illness/health situation, ability to solve problems in a timely manner, responsiveness to patients' needs and technical competence.