[Patient satisfaction in relation to organizational conditions]

Measuring patient satisfaction is increasingly done by generic standardized instruments in the context of which follow-up has been reported as problematic. The aim of the study was to investigate if a more customized design would make patient satisfaction surveys more interesting and useful for the clinicians.

During the period 1999-2006, the County of Aarhus carried out 398 surveys in four rounds at the County's eight hospitals. On the basis of these evaluations, we have analysed the departments' need for detailed results and the potential for ward level improvement. To explain differences between wards, the 40 wards with the best and the 40 wards with the worst evaluations from round three were compared with data from job satisfaction surveys and a management information system.

71.4% of the departments chose to have the results specified at ward level or associated with specific diagnosis groups. The potential for improvement for the different wards showed variations among the survey questions from 0.0 to 72.3%. At the wards with the highest potential for improvement, we found significantly higher occupancy rates, acute rates, rates of sickness absenteeism and staff perception of high work load, and also less experience of professionalism.

The study confirmed that departments wanted individual and detailed presentations of the results, and that differences in patient satisfaction were associated with differences in organizational conditions. Lack of follow-up is, among others, ascribed to a lack of precision and doubtful value of results as a consequence of a measurement at a too high organizational level.