Factors associated with patient satisfaction with care among dermatological outpatients

Background It has been shown that poor patient satisfaction can lead to poo r adherence to treatment with consequently poor health outcomes. In order t o improve the quality of care perceived by the patient and thus the health outcome, it is important to understand which are the main factors influenci ng patient satisfaction. Objectives To examine factors associated with patient satisfaction with car e among dermatological out-patients. Methods This longitudinal study is based on a sample of dermatology out-pat ients. The independent effects on patient's satisfaction of patient charact eristics (sociodemographic characteristics, disease severity, quality of li fe) and of specific aspects of provided health care (the time the physician spent with patients, physician's interpersonal skills, etc.) were examined by multiple logistic regression. Results A total of 1389 out-patients were selected at random and invited to participate. Of the 722 patients who agreed to participate, 424 fulfilled the inclusion criteria and 396 of these patients (93.4%) completed the stud y. Overall satisfaction was reported by 60.0% of patients. The likelihood o f overall satisfaction was found to be significantly and independently incr eased by the physician's ability to give explanations and to show empathy f or the patient's condition. and by the older age of patients. The likelihoo d of satisfaction also increased with increasing disease severity, but decr eased with symptom-related poor quality of life. The lowest level of satisf action was found among patients whose symptom-related quality of life was w orse than the clinical severity rated by the dermatologist. Conclusions Improving the physician's interpersonal skills can increase pat ient satisfaction, which is likely to have a positive effect on treatment a dherence and health outcomes. Dermatologists succeeded better in establishi ng a good relationship with clinically more severely affected patients than with patients who were clinically mildly affected despite their quality of life being impaired. Thus, the inclusion of a patient-rated quality of lif e can be a useful measure in dermatology, as it enables clinicians to perce ive the patients' perception of their health status.