Objective: To describe the first stage of development of a patient satisfaction form designed for psychiatric outpatients.
Method: An initial 62-item questionnaire was completed by 172 patients, who were asked to assess the importance of a number of practice and practitioner features in contributing to their satisfaction.
Results: Mean scores prioritized the psychiatrist respecting the rights of the patient; appointment and billing arrangements were of intermediate importance, while amenity issues were rated as unimportant. When rankings across the several practices were examined, very high levels of agreement were demonstrated, supporting the likely validity of the overall rankings. Four underlying domains were identified by factor analysis, the principal one being defined by respect for confidentiality, by support and adequate communication. The three remaining factors were contributed to more by practice (e.g. billing arrangements, amenities) than by practitioner features.
Conclusion: We consider how a refined and modified version of the measure might be developed for use by both individual practitioners and group practices, as well as being used as a formal QA component activity.