Assessment of quality of care in an Oncology Institute using information on patients' satisfaction

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility of conducting a patient satisfaction survey in the oncology hospital setting, using a multidimensional patient satisfaction questionnaire to be completed at home. Methods: Sociodemograph ic and clinical data were collected for 133 consecutive patients. Patients were asked to complete the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer QLQ-C30 (version 2.0) just before hospital discharge and the Com prehensive Assessment of Satisfaction with Care at home 2 weeks after disch arge. Results: Respondents (73% of patients approached) were younger, hospi talized for a shorter time and presented less appetite loss, nausea and vom iting and better physical and role functioning than non-responders. The asp ects of care for which patients wanted the most improvement were associated with the provision of medical information. In multivariate analyses, longe r hospital stay was associated with higher satisfaction with all aspects of medical and nursing care, most probably because patients discharged early were not assured of continuity of care and lacked information regarding sel f-care at home. Higher global quality of life was associated with higher sa tisfaction with all aspects of care, suggesting the potential contribution of patient satisfaction to the patients' well-being. Conclusions: Conductin g a patient satisfaction survey in an oncology hospital setting proved feas ible; however, further surveys should attempt to obtain the opinion of pati ents with more severe physical conditions. The assessment of the patients' satisfaction provided indications for improvement of care in a particular h ospital. Although the results of this study are specific to one hospital, t he methods could be reproduced in other hospital settings, but may possibly lead to other conclusions. Copyright (C) 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel.