Addressing the paradoxes of satisfaction with hospital care

The purpose of this paper is to assess patient satisfaction in Greek public hospitals.

In total, 367 patients participated in the study with a minimum of three days stay at the hospital. Measures included overall satisfaction, satisfaction with medical and nursing staff, satisfaction with room facilities, waiting times, extra costs. Information was also collected concerning sex, age, education, salary and length of stay in the hospital. Participants were also asked to indicate, in an open-ended question, the most positive and the most negative aspects of their care.

Patients' bad experience with aspects of their care was not directly reflected in low levels of satisfaction. Patients had to wait long hours to get an appointment with a doctor or after their examination to be admitted to the hospital. Many patients had to rely on a personal nurse and to pay extra money to the medical and nursing staff. They considered lack of staff as the main drawback of the hospital. However, their overall satisfaction was very high.

These results raise concerns about how patients evaluate. Patients are expected to act as consumers who carefully evaluate the aspects of care they receive. However, the aspects of care which patients take for granted when they evaluate their experience with health care providers needs to be illustrated further. Patients' relationship with health care providers may reflect trust rather than rational choice.

This paper provides useful information on assessing patient satisfaction in Greek public hospitals which could be used elsewhere.