What should interest us – dimensions of patient satisfaction at a university ENT clinic

Introduction The satisfaction of patients and the willingness to recommend a hospital are of enormous importance for economic development.

Material and Methods An questionnaire based on 56 individual questions was designed as a measuring instrument for patient satisfaction and adapted to the individual circumstances of our clinic. General aspects were queried, but clinic-specific factors with regard to satisfaction, e.g. with medical and psycho-emotional care, were also evaluated. In the period from October 2019 to June 2020, all inpatients at our clinic were surveyed. 122 questionnaires could ultimately be included. To examine the relationship between patient satisfaction (e.g. score 1-6) and demographic factors, the Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel statistics were calculated based on the row mean scores. A p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results Overall, a high to very high level of satisfaction could be determined in all patient groups, with no significant differences e.g. between the assessed wards. Some aspects are particularly noteworthy due to their significant test results: 1.) Patients under conservative therapy are generally more dissatisfied than patients who receive an operation, 2.) The higher the school-leaving qualification of the patients, the more satisfied the ratings, 3.) Older patients find it important that doctors wear a white coat, younger ones don`t, 4.) A greeting from the doctor with a handshake does not contribute to satisfaction.

Discussion Knowledge of clinic-specific aspects of patient satisfaction should be in the interest of the attending clinic staff. In our opinion, suspected correlations with regard to patient satisfaction are proven by our study.

Publication History

Article published online:
24 May 2022