The patient care evaluation system: patients' perception of anesthetic care

Our department's Patient Care Evaluation Survey was developed to measure the patients' perception of the care they received by our anesthesia caregivers (attending physicians, residents, and certified registered nurse anesthetists [CRNAs]), and identify those areas of patient contact which might require improvement in the delivery of anesthesia. The survey instrument (a personal letter sent by the chairman), is mailed to randomly selected patients two weeks following discharge from the hospital or ambulatory surgery center. Patients rated the anesthesia care they received from one (poor) to 10 (excellent) in three areas: the preoperative visit, the postoperative visit, and overall satisfaction. From October 1986 to October 1991, a total of 2,374 (n = 2,374) questionnaires representing a random sample of 99,964 anesthetics, were sent to patients. Fifty-four percent or 1,291/2,374 patients returned the survey. A high degree of patient satisfaction is seen for all categories: the preoperative visit, (mean score of 9.17 +/- 1.6); the postoperative visit (8.33 +/- 2.7); and overall satisfaction (9.15 +/- 1.7). Of the responses returned, 0.9% of the patients surveyed rated their interaction with the department as unsatisfactory in all three areas; 2.6% in two areas; 10.8% in at least one area. The Patient Care Evaluation system has served as an important means of feedback for medical, educational, and administrative goals of the department.