Patient satisfaction in home healthcare: what are the essentials?

Addressing patient satisfaction evaluations in home healthcare is a multifaceted approach and has reached new importance due to the move to outcome based care within the quality-of-care arena and new or pending governmental or accreditation standards (Figure 2). Home healthcare agencies must be responsive to patient needs and provide supporting documentation for care that meets patient demands and expectations for care. Identifying what nurses and staff do for patients is no longer enough. The results of interventions are the driving force in home healthcare today. Obtaining positive results requires incorporating the key components of patient satisfaction: the agency, the staff, and patient service mandates that focus on consumer rights and responsibilities. Providing meaningful and useful evaluation results will assist home care managers with the required interventions to assure satisfaction of patients with home healthcare services.