The evaluation of the nurses ' communication performance and satisfaction with hospital care from the perspective of mothers of newborns admitted to neonatal intensive care units (NICU)

Introduction: Nurses have a great influence on reducing the stress of parents because of their exceptional situation in intensive care units. The aim of this study was to investigate the communication performance of nurses and satisfaction with hospital care from the viewpoints of mothers of newborns admitted to the neonatal intensive care units of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in 2015. Methods: This is a cross sectional descriptive-correlational study. The population consists of 220 mothers of newborns admitted to neonatal intensive care units of three hospitals of Namazi, Hafez and Hazrat Zainab. The data collection tool was a questionnaire consisting of three sections: demographic data of mothers, the questionnaire of communication performance and satisfaction with hospital care. Results: in this study, the mean age of mothers was 27 years, the average duration of the hospitalization of newborns was ten days and the average gestational age was 36 weeks. In addition, the mean communication performance of the nurses was lower than the mean satisfaction of mothers.  Comparing the dimensions of satisfaction, satisfaction with hospital care had lower average than other dimensions. Communication performance had no significant relationship with the satisfaction dimensions and p>0.05 but it had a significant relationship with total satisfaction (p = 0.001) Conclusion: Concerning the importance of the nurses’ position, communication, educational and caring skills should be further strengthening to enhance the satisfaction of mothers. Also according to the results obtained from this research, it appears that mothers require better relationship with nurses based on the cause of the hospitalization of their children. Along with being sensitive towards the caring needs of the newborns, nurses should have a proper interaction with parents.