EFFECTS OF POLICY ON NURSES’ WORK ATTITUDE AND PATIENTS’ SATISFACTION WITH SERVICE DELIVERY IN NIGERIAN TEACHING HOSPITALS

ABSTRACT 
Globally, the topic of policy is very critical and has received considerable attention among scholars, though very limited in issues of attitude of healthcare personnel and its effects on a critical segment, the nurses. Specifically, the study investigated the effects of policy on nurses’ work attitude and patients’ satisfaction with service delivery in Nigerian teaching hospitals. This was done by looking at the relationship between policies and attitude of nurses, the relationship between the attitude of nurses and service delivery. It also examined the relationship between attitude of nurses and patient’s satisfaction as well as the relationship between service delivery and patients’ satisfaction.
 
Survey design, which included administration of structured questionnaires (quantitative) and in-depth interview (qualitative) were adopted. Out of the 400 questionnaire that were administered using convenience sampling technique, a total of 285 (69 from BUTH and 216 from LUTH) were returned. The research questions were structured in such a way as to gather from the nurses, pertinent and specific information on the effects of policy on their work attitude on one hand and patients’ satisfaction of service delivery on the other hand. The responses were analyzed using descriptive analysis (percentages and mean score) and the inferential analysis (Regression). For the in-depth interview, open-ended questions were administered on patients, patients’ relations and Management Officers from the two study hospitals, with the use of tape recorder. The data collected were transcribed and analyzed using content analysis.
 
The results showed the correlation coefficient (0.360) indicating a positive and statistically significant relationship between policies and attitude of nurses. It also showed the correlation coefficient (0.605) indicating a positive and statistically significant relationship between attitude of nurses and service delivery, as well as the correlation coefficient (0.630) indicating relationship between attitude of nurses and patients’ satisfaction. The results also showed the correlation coefficient (0.643) indicating a positive and statistically significant relationship between the service delivery and the patients’ satisfaction.
 
The study concluded that the hospital management in particular and by extension, the government, carry out regular orientation and training, increase nurses’ incentives and welfare packages, introduce system of close monitoring and supervision of nurses , as well as putting in place regular feedback mechanism from patients on their experiences as they access service in the hospitals. The government and management should tackle the deficiency of fund and recession which affect the number and quality of equipment at the disposal of all professionals in the hospital. Finally, there should be regular review and evaluation of the policies to ensure that set out objectives are achieved. This study contributed to knowledge by empirically establishing that policy has a major effect on the work attitude of nurses and should be given a broader attention.