Does patient satisfaction of general practice change over a decade?

Area of Science:

• Primary Care
• Health Services Research
• Patient Satisfaction

Background:

• The Patient Participation Program (PPP) was a patient satisfaction survey used in Australian general practice.
• Endorsed by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, it aimed to support continuous quality improvement (CQI).
• Over 3500 practices and a million patients participated between 1994 and 2003.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate changes in patient satisfaction with primary care over time.
• To analyze pooled data from the Patient Participation Program surveys.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of 10 years of PPP survey data.
• Inclusion of variables such as survey year, patient demographics, and practice characteristics.
• Statistical comparison using Logistic Generalized Estimating Equations (LGEE).

Main Results:

• Overall patient satisfaction with Australian general practice was very high (99%).
• Higher satisfaction was associated with male gender, older age, fewer other practitioner visits, and smaller practice size.
• A pooled satisfaction indicator showed minimal improvement for repeat surveys but no significant change over the survey years.

Conclusions:

• Very high satisfaction levels limited the ability to demonstrate change.
• The survey's utility for general practitioners (GPs) in continuous quality improvement may be limited.
• Future surveys should be more sensitive to negative feedback and provide integrated GP feedback for enhanced practice improvement.