HOSPITALIZED-PATIENTS SATISFACTION WITH CAREGIVERS CONDUCT AND PHYSICAL SURROUNDINGS

The study examined the relative contribution of caregivers' conduct an d physical conditions of the hospital setting to patients' global sati sfaction with health care, while controlling for self-assessed health status, The study was performed in the Soroka Medical Center, which is the only inpatient facility for a population of 360,000 in southern I srael, Patients were interviewed using a structured questionnaire, Inc lusion criteria were patients over 17 years of age, fluency in Hebrew, and hospitalization in the internal medicine wards for 24 hours or mo re, The dependant variable was ''global satisfaction.'' The independen t variables were ''satisfaction with caregivers' conduct,'' ''satisfac tion with physical surroundings and conditions,'' and ''self-assessmen t of health.'' The three independent variables accounted for 36.8% of the variation in patients' satisfaction with care, of which 87% relate d to ''satisfaction with caregivers' conduct,'' In conclusion, hospita l patients value the caregivers' conduct more than the physical enviro nment.