Patient satisfaction with birthing center nursing care and factors associated with likelihood to recommend institution.

This study analyzed data from an existing hospital birthing center patient satisfaction survey to determine which care factors were most important to patients and correlated with the likelihood to recommend the facility to others. Three dimensions of care emerged--wait time, communication, and service. Patients gave lower scores for satisfaction if they waited longer than expected for a call light response: 40% of patients expected to wait 4 minutes or less for a response. Discussing with patients realistic wait times for call light responses may be a way to improve patient satisfaction.