Ryszard Grebowski | PubMed Health

PubMed2005

[Patient's satisfaction in the light of the Polish empirical studies--an attempt to elucidate a secret of high satisfaction with care].

UNLABELLED: Patients' satisfaction is the subject of interest of many researchers, which is reflected in a number of studies devoted to this problem, published in Polish medical journals. This indicates high interest in the subject and is a prerequisite for the outcome analysis. AIM: Presentation of the findings of Polish empirical studies on patients' satisfaction, determination which elements of health care contribute to patients' satisfaction and which cause dissatisfaction and an attempt to elucidate the causes of high patients' satisfaction. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study used the method of a literature review. Polish Medical Bibliography of 1991-2004 was used as the subject basis for the analysis. Using the key words "patient's satisfaction" 119 reports were found. Of that number all empirical studies (50) were included in the analysis. RESULTS: The studies on patients' satisfaction focus on the quality of hospital care (78%). Fewer studies refer to primary care (20%). A majority of patients reported high satisfaction with health care. CONCLUSIONS: The studies on satisfaction do not have a reliable theoretical support. A qualitative approach that would help find out what is really important from the patient's point of view should be more widely employed.

Family Practice↗

PubMed2002

[Methodologic difficulties in measuring patient satisfaction--discrepancy coming from formulating questions].

Reports concerning methodology of studies on patients' satisfaction suggest that the way questions are composed may have significant effect on the received answers. For example responses to closed-ended questions are usually positive, while in contrast, the responses to open-ended questions tend to be negative. This is described as "leniency effect". The aim of the present study was to compare the difference in patients' answers to open and closed questions in a survey on patients' satisfaction with family doctor services. The study was carried out in two general practices in Białystok, Poland and participants were randomly chosen from the patients' lists of their physicians. The survey was conducted by the technique of mailed questionnaire. Of the total 1000 questionnaires sent out, 579 were filled in and returned, and 560 were eligible for further analysis. The results show the discrepancy between the rating given by patients in a five-grade scale and their own answers to open questions. Among 216 individuals grading family doctor's care as fairly good in an answer to a closed question, 42 persons (19.4%) used phrases expressing negative feelings in an answer to an open question asking for justification of their opinion. Most frequently negative comments were related to short time of consultation, difficulty with obtaining referral to a specialist and lack of holistic approach to a patient. The results of our study suggest that questionnaires are not sufficiently precise tools in a complex evaluation of doctors' care by their patients. In practice this may mean that questionnaire surveys, which are often used because of the ease of administration, may require to be complemented or replaced by other more qualitative research tools, such as in depth interviews and open questions.

Adult↗