More than 95% of patients having a standalone nurse consultation rated the quality of care as good or very good, a national health survey has found.
The Ministry of Health has just released the patient experience findings of the New Zealand Health Survey of 2010/11, which involved face-to-face interviews with 12,000 adults and parents of 4000 children.
While overall survey respondents expressed high levels of trust and confidence in the doctors and nurses they saw in both general practices and emergency departments (ED), patients and parents consistently rated nurse consultation experiences higher than with GPs or ED doctors.
About 13% of Kiwi adults and 10% of children surveyed had had a standalone visit with their practice nurse in the previous three months compared with 49% of adults and 43% of children who had had a GP consultation in the same time period.
Of those adult patients who had a nurse consultation just under 90 per cent said they definitely had confidence and trust in their practice nurse compared to 84% who had seen their GP, 72 per cent who had seen an ED doctor and 58% who saw an after-hours doctor. Parents reported similar confidence levels.
When asked to rate their quality of care 95 per cent of adult nurse patients rated their nurse care as good or very good, 93 per cent of GP patients, 82 per cent of ED doctor patients and 69 per cent of after-hours doctors.
The survey also asked people to rate their total patient experience in six areas including how good their doctor or nurse were asking about symptoms, their listening skills, their explanations, involving patients in decisions, taking patients seriously and giving patients enough time.
In this area too patients overall ranked practice nurses higher with 90 per cent of adults rating their total patient experience with the practice nurse as good compared to 84 per cent of patients who saw a GP.
Māori adults along with adults from the most deprived neighbourhoods were less likely to report a positive patient experience with their GP. There were no significant differences reported between ethnic groups or neighbourhoods for patients’ experiences with practice nurses.
To view the full report go to: www.health.govt.nz/publication/patient-experience-2011-12
