**6. Conclusion**

This paper supports nursing management efforts for a higher proportion of registered nurses in the nursing staff structure, and an increased volume of overall nursing staff working hours. The results show that the more the needs of patients that are detected, the higher the satisfaction regarding nursing care. Managers could use the patient needs categorization system as in this study to facilitate decisions on staffing requirements and therefore predict patient satisfaction.

Patients do not only perceive the presence and value of registered nurses when they are at their bedsides. The competencies registered nurses acquire at the academic level can also affect the care given, and thereby the perceptions of patients, who feel higher levels of satisfaction. Overall, our findings suggest that the health system requires more highly skilled healthcare professionals.
