[User satisfaction in primary care]

To find user satisfaction and assess the usefulness of an analogue scale in measuring satisfaction.

Multi-centre, descriptive and crossover study.

Four primary care centres in Girona.

All those users who happened to attend on a certain day (n = 1349).

A multi-dimensional, self-administered and anonymous 33-item questionnaire on satisfaction, which had already been validated in primary care, was used. An analogue scale, running from 0 to 10, on overall satisfaction was added. The mean age was 48.5; 33% were men, 62% women. 84.2% replied; 37.3% needed help to reply. Mean satisfaction on the questionnaire was 85%, with lower ratings given to organisational questions, and the highest to personal treatment. The analogue scale achieved 7.34 average. The correlation between the two was r = 0.63 (p < 0.001).

The satisfaction level was similar to that found in other studies. The analogue scale correlated closely with the questionnaire, but was quicker and more simple. As such, it could be used to monitor user satisfaction along with open questions for a supplementary qualitative evaluation.