Importance of Various Factors in the Determination of Inpatient Satisfaction:Health Care Providers' and Patients' Perspectives

摘要

Few studies had compared health care providers' and patients' perceptions of theimportance of various factors on patient satisfaction. Subjects of this study were 292 health care providers and 137 inpatients in a tertiary-care military hospital. Physicians, allied health professionals, registered nurses, vocational nurses, and medical assistants comprised the health care provider group. The survey instrument consisted of forty-four items that subjects quantitatively rated according to their importance in satisfying inpatients. The instrument also contained two qualitative questions, asking what the most important factors were in determining the satisfaction and dissatisfaction of inpatients. The quantitative responses indicated that the most important self-reported determinant of inpatient satisfaction was the State-of-the-Art Technical Quality dimension. Patients' responses to two qualitative questions indicated that the factors which satisfy them are different from those that dissatisfy them. Patients' qualitative response themes indicated that their most important satisfier was the Technical Quality of their care, and their most important dissatisfier was the Environment Physical Comfort theme. Health care providers rated the importance of four out of seven dimensions of inpatient satisfaction significantly lower than patients. Many significant differences were discovered among the five health professions studied.