Outpatients' perceptions of their experiences in musculoskeletal rehabilitation care

While patients' satisfaction with rehabilitation care is often measured, the knowledge of their experiences during delivery of care and of which characteristics may lead them to experience problems remains largely undocumented.

To assess the quality of patients' experiences receiving post-acute care for musculoskeletal disorders in outpatient rehabilitation settings. To describe the extent to which variations in reported quality of patients' experiences were related to their characteristics.

A cross sectional, self-reported survey.

3 outpatient rehabilitation units.

Four hundred sixty-five outpatients. Mean age 39.4 (SD=11.9).

A problem score (from 0 to 100%) of self-reported experiences was calculated on 7 specific aspects of care (belonging to organizational environment and professionals' attitudes and behaviors) and compared among participants' subgroups.

Mean scores of the organizational environment area showed higher amount of problems (43.3%) than the professionals' attitudes and behaviours area (34.7%). Two multivariate linear regression models (with adjusted R(2) 9.3% and 4.9%) indicated that older patients and those with high global rating change were less likely to experience problems in the two areas.

Problems on aspects of care were commonly experienced by patients with musculoskeletal disorders in outpatient rehabilitation settings. The age and health of patients were associated to these problems, but explained only a small variation in them.

Surveys measuring patients' experiences can be used to monitor the actual performance of rehabilitation settings and to pinpoint the exact issues needing to be addressed to improve quality as well as to make comparison among centres.