Patient satisfaction after discharge may not match inpatient experience
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Researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine observed inconsistencies between patient satisfaction reported during an inpatient stay and patient satisfaction reported after discharge, according to published results.
Katherine Joseph, MPH, and colleagues surveyed 231 patients (mean age of 59.5 years) who underwent inpatient orthopedic surgery between June 2017 and March 2018. The most common procedures included spine (n = 136), total joint arthroplasty (n = 45) and trauma (n = 41).
Researchers evaluated patient satisfaction on a scale of 0 to 10 by asking a series of open-ended questions on each patient’s hospital experience 48 hours after admission. Patients were then randomized to a second survey that was completed by either phone or mail at 4 to 6 weeks after discharge, according to the study.
Overall, the median patient satisfaction score after the inpatient interview was 9.5. Based on the authors’ categorization of scores, 50.2% of patients gave a high score, 21.2% gave a mid-range score and 28.6% gave a low score. When surveyed after discharge, patients had a similarly high median satisfaction score; however, 55.5% of patients gave a high score, 31.8% gave a mid-range score and 12.7% gave a low score.
“The authors observed a lack of concordance between the reported experience as an inpatient and the recollection of the inpatient experience reported after discharge,” Joseph and colleagues wrote in the study. “This study raises concerns regarding the validity of patient satisfaction measures to accurately quantify inpatient experience and the limitations related to its modes of administration.”
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