| Health care leaders in the 21st century face challenges that stem from issues concerning quality care in a cost efficient environment while maintaining customer satisfaction. Technology has played a vital part in offering more advanced diagnostic and surgical equipment. The proliferation of technology has resulted in documentation at the patient's bedside with computers-on-wheels, workstations-on-wheels, and electronic handheld devices. The problem iterated in the study is that the technological age challenges nurses to maintain a caring and healing environment as computers are brought to the bedside and used as a method of documentation by nurses. The quantitative ex post facto study examined patient satisfaction scores from 1990 to 2011. The purpose was to determine if the nurses transition from paper documentation to partial paper documentation and computer documentation at the nurse's station to complete computer documentation at the bedside impacted patient satisfaction. Descriptive, inferential, parametric, and nonparametric testing were used to test the hypothesis. The finding from the study suggested that patient satisfaction increased with complete computer documentation. The results of the study could be instrumental in assisting health care leaders to find solutions to improve patient satisfaction. The recommendation for future research is to conduct a satisfaction survey with the use of an instrument that consist of items that are designed specifically to measure patient satisfaction with nursing care when computers are used for documentation at the patient bedside. |
