Why should we care about patient satisfaction?
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Why should we care about patient satisfaction?
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What do you do to assess patient satisfaction of your patients? As healthcare professionals, what do you think patient satisfaction means? For me, patient satisfaction is how good your overall experie
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Why should we care about patient satisfaction?
posted at 8/3/2012 3:53 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 157
First: 29/8/2010 Last: 8/3/2012 |
What do you do to assess patient satisfaction of your patients? As healthcare professionals, what do you think patient satisfaction means? For me, patient satisfaction is how good your overall experience of healthcare from booking an appointment, getting to the appoinement to the consultation itself.
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Re: Why should we care about patient satisfaction?
posted at 8/3/2012 5:28 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 492
First: 12/7/2010 Last: 7/5/2013 |
Should we care about patient satisfaction? How much should we be concerned about patient satisfaction? This may be of interest to you - a recently published cohort study in the Archives of Internal Medicine found higher patient satisfaction was associated with higher mortality, increased inpatient visits, total expenditure and drug expenditure. Obviously causality can't be established from a cohort study but it sure raises the question - is patient satisfaction a valid end point to aggressively pursue? Link to the study - The Cost of Satisfaction
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Re: Why should we care about patient satisfaction?
posted at 8/3/2012 6:06 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 157
First: 29/8/2010 Last: 8/3/2012 |
So are you trying to say that we should not attempt to shorten waiting times and have horrible, cold doctors so that we reduce patient satisfaction and reduce mortality? 
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Re: Why should we care about patient satisfaction?
posted at 8/3/2012 7:01 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 492
First: 12/7/2010 Last: 7/5/2013 |
No, it's a false dichotomy to say that I'm suggesting we should be horrible and cold. I am saying that patient satisfaction isn't the be all and end all. Patient satisfaction is subjective but the parameter to judge any doctor or hospital should be objective. Patient satisfaction is intimately linked to fulfillment of the expectations of the patient, this doesn't imply that patient expectations are rational or scientific. To give another example, here is a report from the NEJM where the patient repeatedly requests something which is patently unscientific (http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1110812). If the physician refuses to acquiesce, how do you think the patient would have rated the physician? What I'm saying is that patient satisfaction should of course be considered, but it should receive a far smaller weightage than mortality, and surely not at the cost of increasing mortality.
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Re: Why should we care about patient satisfaction?
posted at 9/3/2012 6:37 AM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 873
First: 17/6/2011 Last: 17/5/2013 |
I have to put patient satisfaction measures into the report for our commissioners regarding some of our services - the usual routes are available for people to complain and in addition we ask for a validated questionnaire to be filled out - two things strike me - the reponse rate is less than a third plus people often don't read the questions eg under the free had comment anything to improve they write excellent! Patient satisfaction is important as satisfied patients are likely to be concordant with advice but I'm not sure I know how to measure it! |
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Re: Why should we care about patient satisfaction?
posted at 9/3/2012 6:37 AM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 873
First: 17/6/2011 Last: 17/5/2013 |
I have to put patient satisfaction measures into the report for our commissioners regarding some of our services - the usual routes are available for people to complain and in addition we ask for a validated questionnaire to be filled out - two things strike me - the reponse rate is less than a third plus people often don't read the questions eg under the free had comment anything to improve they write excellent! Patient satisfaction is important as satisfied patients are likely to be concordant with advice but I'm not sure I know how to measure it! |
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Re: Why should we care about patient satisfaction?
posted at 10/3/2012 4:31 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 10
First: 27/4/2009 Last: 10/6/2012 |
In Response to Re: Why should we care about patient satisfaction?: Should we care about patient satisfaction? How much should we be concerned about patient satisfaction? This may be of interest to you - a recently published cohort study in the Archives of Internal Medicine found higher patient satisfaction was associated with higher mortality, increased inpatient visits, total expenditure and drug expenditure. Obviously causality can't be established from a cohort study but it sure raises the question - is patient satisfaction a valid end point to aggressively pursue? Link to the study - The Cost of Satisfaction Posted by Deb_D I have not read the study under discussion so not in a position to comment on technical aspects of the study but as far as the conclusions mentioned here are absolutely does NOT seems correct and there must be some errors somewhere in gathering, processing or concluding the data. A satisfied patient is more likely to be relived of the worries/anxiety associated with the medical condition, have more understanding of the condition and the medication, more likely to comply with the management plan, including the non-pharmacological and pharmacological aspects and less likely to have office visits for any clarificatications or just due to frustrations due to being not satisfied. All this logically seems NOT related to increase the mortality atleast.
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Re: Why should we care about patient satisfaction?
posted at 12/3/2012 2:27 PM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 492
First: 12/7/2010 Last: 7/5/2013 |
In Response to Re: Why should we care about patient satisfaction?: In Response to Re: Why should we care about patient satisfaction? : I have not read the study under discussion so not in a position to comment on technical aspects of the study but as far as the conclusions mentioned here are absolutely does NOT seems correct and there must be some errors somewhere in gathering, processing or concluding the data. A satisfied patient is more likely to be relived of the worries/anxiety associated with the medical condition, have more understanding of the condition and the medication, more likely to comply with the management plan, including the non-pharmacological and pharmacological aspects and less likely to have office visits for any clarificatications or just due to frustrations due to being not satisfied. All this logically seems NOT related to increase the mortality atleast. Posted by Dr. Maqsood Ali I think you need to put up some arguments before declaring the conclusions to be incorrect. It may be so that the study is faulty but it did pass peer review, so we can be reasonably sure there is nothing grossly anomalous with it.
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Re: Why should we care about patient satisfaction?
posted at 14/3/2012 11:26 AM GMT
on bmj.com
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Posts: 9
First: 10/6/2011 Last: 16/5/2013 |
Patient satisfaction may a necessary component of good medical outcome but it is certainly not sufficient. Just look at the enthusiasm with which many patients spend their time and money on valueless alternative forms of therapy. On my first day as a surgical house officer - many years ago - my consultant told me "Beware of Dr X. He is the most popular doctor in town and all his patients love him. He cannot tell appendicitis from warts". He was right. Objective outcome measures in terms of QALYs gained should be the final measure but it does help if the patient is satisfied as well. |
