Tapping patient satisfaction: a strategy for quality assessment

✍ Scribed by Patricia M. Guzman; Elena M. Sliepcevich; Ella P. Lacey; Elaine M. Vitello; Marlene R. Matten; Paula L. Woehlke; W.Russell Wright

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1988
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 746 KB
• Volume: 12
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0738-3991
• DOI: 10.1016/0738-3991(88)90006-7

✦ Synopsis

Participant satisfaction is an important measure of program effectiveness. In hospitals, patient satisfaction is a measure that is compatible with quality assurance. This article focuses on the revision, implementation and analysis of a patient satisfaction questionnaire that was designed as a tool for assessing the quality of non-physician encounters in a small hospital. The Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (PSQl, which contained a 30-item rating scale, was designed to collect data about admissions, nursing care and seven other hospital services. The 686 PSQs that comprised a 4-month sample of 2156 instruments (31.8%) completed in a selected year were analyzed. Results show no less than 90% of patient ratings reflecting satisfaction. In addition, openended responses were overwhelmingly laudatory. The content and process of this collaborative effort demonstrate compatibility between research and management when goals and purposes are clearly delineated.