Saadiah Alhedrity^1,, Amani Tukruni¹, Ahmed Ali Mutanbak², Amani Bakr Albandar², Daoud Al-Kouz², Raed Abedrubo², Shaher Yahya Alharbi²

Background: Nurse-to-patient ratios play a crucial role in determining the quality of patient care and overall satisfaction, particularly during high-demand healthcare events like Hajj. In such mass gatherings, healthcare institutions face challenges in maintaining optimal care delivery due to increased patient volumes and resource constraints. Objective: This study aimed to assess patient satisfaction with nursing care quality during the Hajj season at King Abdullah Medical City in Makkah and to evaluate the impact of patient-nurse ratios on satisfaction levels across various dimensions of care. Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among 206 adult patients admitted to specialized medical and surgical units and cardiac inpatient units during the Hajj period. Data were collected through a self-administered, structured questionnaire adapted from the Patient Judgement of Hospital Quality (PJHQ) tool, assessing satisfaction across 23 items. Demographic data and nurse-to-patient ratios were also recorded. Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics and One-Way ANOVA to identify associations between satisfaction and patient demographics or unit characteristics. Results: Patients reported consistently high satisfaction levels across most domains of nursing care, with overall mean satisfaction score of 116.49 (SD = 15.85). The highest satisfaction was observed in humanistic aspects such as courtesy and respect (83.5% rated excellent) and communication clarity. Statistically significant associations were found between satisfaction and gender (p = 0.028), hospital stay duration (p = 0.001), and admitting department (p = 0.001). However, age, marital status, and education level did not significantly influence satisfaction scores. Conclusion: The results show that keeping the right number of patients to nurses during the Hajj season has a favourable effect on the quality of nursing care. Even during this busy time, patients were quite happy with the care they received. This shows how important it is to have staffing plans that take into account the workload and the needs of the patients. Making nurses more attentive and the setting more comfortable could make patients even happier.

Patient satisfaction, Nurse-patient ratio, Nursing care quality, Hajj, Mass gatherings, Hospital staffing, Saudi Arabia