Organizational health literacy as a determinant of patient satisfaction

To assess the organizational health literacy (OHL) of a group of hospitals and investigate the relationships among OHL, patient satisfaction, and patients' health literacy.

This cross-sectional study is conducted in one state hospital, one university hospital, and one private hospital in Istanbul. OHL of the hospitals, patient satisfaction, and health literacy of a sample group of patients were investigated.

OHL data were collected from six managers of each hospital by filling out the 'Health Literate Health care Organizations-10' (HLHO-10) questionnaire during face-to-face interviews. Patient satisfaction and patient health literacy data were collected from representative samples of inpatients in each hospital (n = 491 for the university hospital, 482 for the state hospital, and 486 for the private hospital). The 'Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine' test was used for measuring health literacy. Collected data were analyzed by the SPSS program.

The Turkish version of HLHO-10 questionnaire had high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.916). Health literacy and patient satisfaction levels of the university hospital inpatients were significantly higher (P < 0.001) than those of the other hospitals. A high level of OHL was associated with high patient satisfaction.

OHL seems to be a significant determinant of patient satisfaction.