Patient satisfaction with diagnostic cardiac catheterization: ambulatory vs. inpatient performance

In a combined retrospective and historical cohort analysis, 72 patients at The Mount Sinai Hospital were studied to assess satisfaction with diagnostic cardiac catheterization and coronary arteriography performed as an ambulatory procedure (40 patients) and as an inpatient procedure (32 patients). A composite questionnaire designed to measure patient satisfaction was generated by the method of summed ranks, a common method of pooling aspects from several sources. Ten psychosocial dimensions of patient satisfaction were explored to determine if any difference existed between the ambulatory-patient population and the inpatient population. The ambulatory-patient group had a higher total mean satisfaction score than the inpatient group (4.01 vs. 3.60, p less than .001). Analysis of the specific dimensions showed that the ambulatory group had mean satisfaction scores higher than those of the inpatient group in convenience of procedure (4.12 vs. 3.13), continuity of care (3.83 vs. 3.42), technical quality (4.85 vs. 4.05), interpersonal aspects of communication (4.53 vs. 4.01), physical environment (4.14 vs. 3.18), and global satisfaction (4.71 vs. 4.25). These differences were statistically significant using the two-tailed t test (t greater than t.05,70 = 1.994). These data suggest that cardiac catheterization performed as an ambulatory procedure yields greater satisfaction than when performed as an inpatient procedure. This fact, in combination with prior published conclusions that ambulatory cardiac catheterization is more cost effective and has a statistically similar complication rate, supports the recommendation that this procedure be performed as an ambulatory procedure.