Background: Nurses play an important role in healthcare delivery, with basic nursing care focusing on satisfying patients' basic needs.
Objectives: This study investigated patient satisfaction with inpatient nursing care at a secondary-level hospital in Bangladesh.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 387 patients at a 250-bed hospital in Sirajgonj. A pretested semi-structured questionnaire, incorporating the Risser Patient Satisfaction Scale, was used. Satisfaction scores ranged from 48 (high satisfaction) to 240 (high dissatisfaction).
Results: Patients reported high satisfaction with most basic nursing care domains. Satisfaction was highest for mean pain and psychological support (1.94 (0.53)) and mean privacy and respect (2.10 (0.39)), whereas mean respiratory care (2.46 (0.64)) and mean medication safety (2.34 (0.84)) received lower scores. In quality of nursing care, the interpersonal-trusting domain showed the strongest satisfaction (96.1%), while the interpersonal-educational domain was weakest: 62.5% were dissatisfied with nurses failing to follow up on queries, 50.9% with test result explanations, and 58.9% with excessive medical explanations. Satisfaction correlated significantly with age (p < 0.001), comorbidities (p = 0.001), bed placement (p = 0.001), education (p < 0.05), and residency (p = 0.059). Dissatisfaction was associated with poor cleanliness, food quality, and water supply (all p = 0.001).
Conclusion: Improving hospital hygiene, ensuring consistent water supply, and reducing patient costs are critical to increasing satisfaction, particularly among senior patients.