Association between nurse-child communication and family caregivers' global ratings to hospital: a retrospective study.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Effective nurse-child communication is a fundamental aspect of delivering pediatric nursing care. Family caregivers' global ratings to hospital are considered a proxy-reported measure for assessing a child's inpatient stay experience. We investigate the associations between nurse-child communication and family caregivers' global ratings to hospital. DESIGN AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis of a national child patient experience survey data was conducted. Patient experience with nurse-child communication and the family caregivers' global ratings of hospital were measured using the Child Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems. Hierarchical linear models were constructed to examine the association between nurse-child communication measures and family caregivers' global ratings to hospital. RESULTS: Data from 1010 patients at six National Regional Centers for Pediatric in China were collected. The overall rating of hospitals and the willingness to recommend the hospital showed increasing trends as the nurse-child communication score increased. How often nurses encourage children to ask questions was significantly associated with family caregivers' overall ratings of hospital and the family caregivers' willingness to recommend the hospital. CONCLUSIONS: Effective communication by nurses with the child is associated with significantly higher global ratings to the hospital by family caregivers during inpatient care. Encouraging children to ask questions is a promising contributor to caregivers' global ratings to hospital. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS Pediatric nurses should emphasis encouraging children to ask questions for effective communication in nursing practice. Future research is also needed to develop more targeted strategies to assist pediatric nurse to communicate with child better.