ASSESSMENT OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PUBLIC RELATIONS AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AMONG NURSES AND PATIENTS IN ANYIGBA HOSPITALS

ABSTRACT Nurses have become central to many lives but how well nurses have fulfilled clients’ expectations is often a matter of great concern. Nurses in many developing nations have been criticized for negligence, poor interpersonal relationship, treatment errors and the use of abusive language. In view of these statements this study was conducted to assess public relations and customer satisfaction among nurses and hospital patients: a comparative study of selected hospitals in Anyigba. Survey design was adopted for the study and questionnaire, was used for data collection. The quantitative data was coded and analyzed using descriptive methods such as frequency tables, percentages and Likert scale. The finding shows that 216 respondents stated that they strongly disagree to nurses being gentle in the administration of medications, while 216 respondents said many nurses do not clean up mess but was usually done by relatives. 117 respondents agreed that nurses were gentle in eliciting the right response from patients, while 168 strongly disagreed. Two-hundred and eleven (211) respondents strongly disagreed that nurses used encouraging words but were rather harsh. On right to privacy and non-disclosure of patient health condition, respondents said many nurses (as reflected on the table have issue with confidentiality. Among socio demographic factors that influenced patients’ satisfaction with quality of nursing care, patients’ level of education and economic status played major role. The study therefore recommends that, Professional public relations practitioners should be engaged by hospitals either on a staff basis or as consultants to assist top management in articulating corporate policies, and in assisting the various departments in projecting proper and consistent desirable image for their hospitals.