Predictors of satisfaction with surgical treatment

To investigate prospectively which medical, psychosocial or treatment-related factors predicted treatment satisfaction and to evaluate the adequacy of a preceding retrospective study which had examined the same factors. Furthermore, to examine the predictors and the stability of the major determinants of patient treatment satisfaction.

Assessments made before admission, at discharge and 2 and 4 months after discharge were used to predict both the level and the rate of change in satisfaction with different aspects of treatment.

Three surgical departments at a University Hospital.

Four-hundred and eighty-two patients electively admitted for several surgical conditions.

The central treatment-related measures were the same in the retrospective and prospective studies: global satisfaction with treatment (GS), perceived quality of contact with the nursing (QCN) and medical staff (QCM) and provision of adequate treatment information (INF). More of the variance in GS was explained in the prospective study (48.7% versus 36.3%). GS was most influenced by treatment-related factors with QCN as the strongest predictor in both studies. Only a small portion of the variance in QCN and QCM could be accounted for by the characteristics of the patients. INF was predicted by characteristics of the patients, their illness and life situation and by treatment-related factors. QCN was the strongest predictor of INF. The relationships with the nursing and medical personnel appear to be the major determinants of both patient treatment satisfaction and patients' reception of adequate information about their condition and its treatment.