News Release

Study confirms nursing shortage affects patient satisfaction

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Press Ganey Associates



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South Bend, Ind.--In the midst of an era of extreme nursing shortages and increasingly demanding patients, Press Ganey Associates, Inc., is releasing the results of a study confirming fears that the nursing shortage has an impact on patient satisfaction.

Findings suggest that the higher the ratio between working registered nurses and residents in any given state, the higher the rates of patient satisfaction with the quality of nursing care. From this information, one can conclude that hospitals in states with more available nurses are seeing higher levels of satisfaction, as their patients report that they received more skilled, attentive nursing care. Melvin F. Hall, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Press Ganey, said, "The results of this study should serve as a call to action for those states with low numbers of registered nurses. Programs should be implemented to attract and retain nursing staff. Patient satisfaction depends upon it."

Patient satisfaction data for the study came from 906,902 patients in 34 states. Registered Nurse employment data was taken from The National Sample of Registered Nurses, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Service Administration, Bureau of Health Professions, Division of Nursing.

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Press Ganey Associates is the health care industry's leading independent vendor of satisfaction measurement and improvement services. The firm specializes in producing tested and reliable satisfaction surveys, comprehensive management reports, and national comparative databases to monitor customer (patient, resident, employee, and physician) satisfaction across the entire spectrum of health care. Headquartered in South Bend, Indiana, the firm annually processes nearly 8 million completed surveys in all 50 states and abroad, and serves close to 6,000 health care facilities. In addition, Press Ganey has been chosen by more than 138 major health care systems as their preferred satisfaction measurement provider.


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