Nursing service behaviors as perceived by clients of a private ward at Thabo Crown Prince Hospital

Abstract

 This descriptive research aimed to study nursing service behaviors as perceived by clients of a private ward at Thabo Crown Prince Hospital. The study sample included 323 clients of the of private ward at Thabo Crown Prince Hospital. The research instrument was a questionnaire, which composed of three parts: 1) personal information 2) nursing service behaviors and 3) open-ended questions related to services and suggestions towards service received. Reliability test obtained Alpha Cronbach coefficient of .96. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, including frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation.

The study found that overall perception of nursing service behaviors by clients of the private ward at Thabo Crown Prince Hospital was at a very good level (M=4.57, SD=0.55). Considering each aspect, it was found that most aspects were also at very good levels, with the aspect of ‘being cared for’ having the highest average perceived score (M=4.77, SD=0.44), followed by the aspect of ‘communication’ (M=4.61, SD=0.55). The aspect of ‘social support’ was at a good level (M=4.48, SD=0.59) when analyzing each item, it was found that the clients’ perception of nursing service behaviors was at good to very good level. The item with the highest mean score was ‘you received assistance from nurses every time when requested or when needed’ (M=4.77, SD=0.43) and the item with the lowest mean was ‘the nurses introduced themselves every time before providing care for you’ (M=4.44, SD=0.71).