EVALUATING A PATIENT SATISFACTION SURVEY FOR MAXIMUM BENEFIT

Background: Patient satisfaction surveys are now in use in some form a t most hospitals and health care systems. Yet, it is unclear how well information collected meets the needs of all groups who might benefit from patient feedback. An evaluation was conducted at the Center for O utcomes Research, Sisters of Providence Health System (Portland, Ore), to determine the extent to which the survey, then almost three years in use, was satisfying its internal consumers and to guide redesign of the entire survey process. Method: The evaluation of the survey proce ss was designed to address several questions: who uses the results (co nsumers); what are their objectives (goals); what results are useful ( product); and what is done with the results (intervention utility). Te chniques such as interviews, literature reviews, and supplemental data collection, were used to explore the needs of each consumer group. Co nclusion: The evaluation has led to a number of changes in the patient satisfaction survey process. Large-scale patient satisfaction surveys result in large-scale costs and therefore must be beneficial to multi ple users in multiple ways.