Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T18:59:11.035Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Satisfaction May Not Suffice!: A Commentary on ‘a Patient's Perspective’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2009

Paul D. Cleary
Paul D. Cleary
Affiliation:
Harvard Medical School and The Picker Institute
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

There are inherent limitations in using assessments of patient satisfaction to make inferences about the quality of medical care. Such evaluations tend to be subjective, subject to reporting biases, and difficult to interpret when they are being used to motivate and guide quality improvement efforts. Newer methods of eliciting both reports and ratings from consumers, such as the Consumer Assessment of Health Plans (CAHPS) project, can provide reliable, valid, interpretable, and actionable data about selected aspects of health care. The use of these methods and continued use of new qualitative methods, such as cognitive interviewing, should allow us to continue increasing the prominence of consumer-based information in quality assessment and improvement efforts.

Type
Special Section: The Consumer And Technology
Information
International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , Winter 1998 , pp. 35 - 37
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1.Brook, R. H., McGlynn, E. A., & Cleary, P. D.Measuring quality of care. New England Journal of Medicine, 1996, 335, 966–70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2.Bruster, S., Jarman, B., Bosanquet, N., et al. The patient's view: A national survey of hospital patients. British Medical Journal, 1994, 309, 1542–46.Google Scholar
3.Charles, C., Gauld, M., Chambers, L., et al. How was your hospital stay? Patients' reports about their care in Canadian hospitals. Journal of the Canadian Medical Association, 1994, 150, 1813–21.Google ScholarPubMed
4.Cleary, P.D., Edgman-Levitan, S., McMullen, W., et al. A national survey of hospital patients: The relationship between reported problems with care and patient evaluations. Quality Review Bulletin, 1992, 18, 53–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5.Cleary, P. D., Edgman-Levitan, S., Roberts, M., et al. Patients evaluate their hospital care: A national survey. Health Affairs, 1991, 10, 254–67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6.Cleary, P. D., Edgman-Levitan, S., Walker, J. D., et al. Using patient reports to improve medical care: A preliminary report from ten hospitals. Quality Management in Health Care, 1993, 2, 31–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Cleary, P. D., Fahs, M. C., McMullen, W., et al. Using patient reports to assess hospital treatment of persons with AIDS: A pilot study. AIDS Care, 1992, 4, 325–32.Google Scholar
8.Cleary, P. D., & McNeil, B. J.Patient satisfaction as an indicator of quality of care. Inquiry, 1988, 25, 25–36.Google Scholar
9.Edgman-Levitan, S., & Cleary, P. D.What information do consumers want and need? Health Affairs, 1996, 15, 42–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
10.Gerteis, M., Edgman-Levitan, S., Walker, J. D., et al. What patients really want. Health Management Quarterly, 1993, Third Quarter, 2–6.Google Scholar
11.Ware, J. E., & Hays, R. D.Methods for measuring patient satisfaction with specific medical encounters. Medical Care, 1988, 26, 393–402.Google Scholar