Purpose: Our Level I Pediatric Trauma Center employs pediatric nurse practitioners (PNP) to manage inpatients. We hypothesized that the involvement of a PNP would lead to increased nursing staff satisfaction with patient care.
Methods: Children admitted to the trauma service were randomized to PNP or resident care groups. Nurses caring for these children were asked to fill out a satisfaction survey regarding the care that the child received.
Findings: Sixty-five nurses participated. Nurses scored the PNP group significantly higher in human qualities, information given about the tests, management of the child's pain, and response time to pages/questions.
Conclusions: Involvement of the PNP leads to higher nursing satisfaction scores compared with residents while providing equivalent care for injured children.