Patient satisfaction with rehabilitation services following traumatic brain injury: a quality registry study

To examine factors associated with patient satisfaction with rehabilitation services received after traumatic brain injury.

Cross-sectional study.

Persons with mild to severe traumatic brain injury (n = 1,375) registered in the "Oslo TBI Registry - Rehabilitation" quality register at Oslo University Hospital from 1 January 2018-31 July 2022.

Sociodemographics, injury-related variables, patient-reported outcome measures, global functioning, and rehabilitation-related variables were recorded at hospital outpatient visits. The patients reported satisfaction with services received at the outpatient clinic and in primary healthcare at the final follow-up. Multivariable logistic regression models were applied to examine factors associated with patient satisfaction.

Of 316 patients, 83% reported satisfaction with services received at the hospital outpatient clinic. Belief in recovery (odds ratio [OR] = 2.73), shorter time to follow-up (OR = 0.39), and lower symptom burden (OR = 0.96) significantly increased satisfaction. Among 283 patients, 62% reported satisfaction with services in primary healthcare, where belief in recovery (OR = 2.90), shorter time to follow-up (OR = 0.50), higher age (OR = 1.04), and higher number of rehabilitation services received in primary healthcare (OR =  1.32) significantly increased satisfaction.

Across service levels, the strongest associated factors for satisfaction were belief in recovery and shorter time to follow-up, suggesting that timely delivery of traumatic brain injury-related specialized services could increase overall satisfaction.