A comparison of methods for measuring patient satisfaction with consultations in primary care

Attention needs to be paid to comparing and standardizing methods for measuring patient satisfaction with consultations in primary care.

To compare the Medical Interview Satisfaction Scale (MISS) and the Consultation Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ) in terms of acceptability, distribution of responses, reliability and gather evidence of validity. In addition, to compare the scores of patients completing the questionnaires immediately after the consultation in the general practitioners' surgeries with those completing the questionnaires later at home.

The two questionnaires were bound as a single instrument with order determined at random. This was given to patients immediately after their consultations in eight practices in South Glamorgan.

One hundred and ninety-eight of 316 (63%) patients completed and returned questionnaires. The distributions of patient satisfaction scores for the two questionnaires were very similar. For the MISS: mean 76.6% (SD 11.4); for the CSQ mean 7.2% (SD 12.6). Correlations between sub-scales ranged from 0.58-0.84 for the MISS and from 0.40-0.79 for the CSQ. The correlation between the overall scales was 0.82. Levels of reliability for the scales and sub-scales were fair to good ranging from 0.78-0.96 for the MISS and from 0.73-0.94 for the CSQ.

The study does not identify one scale as being superior in psychometric terms, however by demonstrating consistency of responses it provides support for the scales as measures of patient satisfaction for use in primary care. The level of inter-correlation suggests that the sub-scales may not be clearly independent of each other and suggests that total scores may be preferred. Lower levels of satisfaction are expressed if patients complete questionnaires at home rather than in general practitioners' surgeries.