Abstract
Background:Patients' perceptions of nursing care reflect their emotions regarding the care they have received, providing essential and holistic information on the overall quality of nursing care. There has been no study conducted in Ethiopia that explores patients' perceptions of nursing care.
Methods:An institution-based cross-sectional study design was employed, with data collection conducted from March 20, 2023, to April 27, 2023. Participants were selected using a systematic random sampling procedure. EpiData version 4.6 was used for data entry, and SPSS version 25 was utilized for analysis, employing both descriptive and inferential statistics. Binary logistic regression was used to assess the association between dependent and independent variables.
Results:The study included a total of 602 admitted patients. Of these, 50% had a good perception of nursing care. Good perceptions of nursing care were significantly associated with previous hospitalization history (AOR = 0.42; 95% CI: 0.29-0.63), admission to medical wards (AOR = 0.43; 95% CI: 0.27-0.69), and stays of less than seven days in the hospital (AOR = 1.50; 95% CI: 1.03-2.20).
Conclusion:This study found a significant association between patients' perceptions of nursing care and prior hospitalization history, admission wards, and the length of hospital stay. Additionally, one in two patients had a poor perception of nursing care. Hence, hospitals should implement methods to improve patients' perceptions of nursing care and frequently evaluate nursing care practices.