Perception of nursing care received by in-patients at the Avenues Clinic (Harare in Zimbabwe) : a descriptive study

Abstract

The study investigated how patients in the general wards of the Avenues Clinic perceive the nursing care they received. The study objectives were to identify how nurses in the general wards of the Avenues Clinic respond to patients' needs and if the nursing care received from the nurses matched patients' expectations. The study further sought to determine if patients would return to use Avenues Clinic nursing services and recommend services to family and friends.

Data was drawn from 87 respondents by randomly distributing 100 questionnaires to three thirty-four bedded general wards of the Avenues Clinic.

Findings of the study indicated that the majority of patients who received nursing care that was in line with their expectations would also return to use Avenues Clinic nursing services as well as recommend the services to family and friends. The theme "optimal care" was used to consolidate patient satisfiers while "suboptimal care" was used to describe patient dissatisfiers.