Knowing the areas of service, actions, and parameters that can influence patient perception about a service provided can help hospital executives and healthcare workers to devise improvement plans, leading to higher patient satisfaction.
To identify inpatient satisfaction determinants, assess their relationships with hospital variables, and improve patient satisfaction through interventions.
We studied the inpatient population of an eight-hospital tertiary medical center in 2015. The satisfaction determinants were based on the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey answers and included clinical and organizational variables.
Interventions began at the end of 2016 included bedside care coordination rounds (BCCR), medications best practices alert (BPA), connect transitions post-discharge calls (CONNECT Transitions) and a framework for provider-patient interactions called AIDET (Acknowledge, Introduce, Duration, Explain, and Thank). Substantial impact upon patient satisfaction was observed after the introduction of these interventions.
Three groups were identified:
high satisfaction, which correlated with race, surgery, and cancer care;
low satisfaction, correlated with elderly, emergency room, intensive care unit, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and vascular diseases; and
neutral, correlated with hospital-acquired complications, several diagnostic procedures, and medical care delay.
Significant improvements in the 3 groups were achieved with interventions that optimize care provider interactions with patients and their families.
Based on the HCAHPS-based analysis, we implemented new measures and programs for addressing coordination of care, improving patient safety, reducing the length of stay, and ultimately improving patient satisfaction.