An assessment of patient satisfaction for a short-stay program in a physical and rehabilitation medicine day hospital

Abstract

Introduction: The aim of the Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (PRM) day hospital's short-stay program is to propose a one- or two-day medical and psychosocial assessment to patients with disabilities. The day hospital is run by an interprofessional team, using interdisciplinary cooperation and a hospital/community network.

Objectives: To describe a tool for assessing patient satisfaction and to present the results of our survey.

Patients and methods: A self-administered questionnaire about patient satisfaction was created and given to patients coming to the PRM day hospital. The questionnaire included 27 multiple-choice questions, two visual analogic scales, and one free-response question. The survey was conducted over two months. For the 603 annual day hospital sessions, 143 questionnaires on 143 sessions were filled out.

Results: Patients found the questionnaire easy to use, but a few needed help to fill it out. It permitted us to highlight the places where the short-stay program performed unsatisfactorily.

Conclusions: The self-administered questionnaire seems to be appropriate for assessing patient satisfaction. The highest scores helped to emphasize where the program was functioning correctly, and the lowest scores allowed us to identify the points that needed to be improved.