Improving patient satisfaction through the consistent use of scripting by the nursing staff.

An exploratory developmental model proposes a new method for responding to patient satisfaction on the basis of the hospital nurse obtaining subjective patient information at the patient's bedside during the first 24 hours of hospital admission and the day before discharge. The personal interview by the nurse uses a guided script, the Voice of the Patient (Figure 1), which is the front sheet in the medical record and a part of the critical medical care documents common to all hospital medical records. The information recorded in the Voice of the Patient actually comprises one-sentence quotes from the patient used by the hospital caregivers in responding to patient satisfaction during hospitalization, when care flaws can be corrected.