The measurement of patient satisfaction has been encouraged by a growing consumer orientation in health care, especially since it yields information about consumers' views in a form which can be used for comparison and monitoring. However, drawing on literature from a variety of sources, this paper suggests that there remain several unresolved issues relating to the measurement of satisfaction, and some serious questions about the validity of the concept. It is argued that current approaches to measuring satisfaction may not be grounded in the values and experiences of patients; therefore satisfaction surveys could be denying patients the opportunity to have their opinions included in the planning and evaluation of health care services.
Commenting on earlier work in the Journal of Advanced Nursing on action research, this paper takes up the theme of definition and approach and presents an original action research typology. Three key criteria of action research--'reeducation', 'problem focus', and 'improvement and involvement'--are related to four broad types of action research: 'experimental', 'organizational', 'professionalizing' and 'empowering'. The typology is of general relevance not only to action researchers but to any project concerned to resolve problems and bring about improvements in practice, including evaluation research. Following discussion of the typology, it is used to analyse three different action research projects, including one conducted by the authors in collaboration with a project team. It is shown that each of these projects, which are all concerned in some way to improve standards of nursing care in hospitals, contains elements of different types which may at times be in conflict. The ability to recognize this and to be explicit about the different types may assist action researchers in selecting an appropriate approach and in anticipating problems which may arise during the course of a project's life.
Despite the widespread use of satisfaction surveys to obtain patients' views about health services, the validity and relevance of self-completion questionnaire surveys has been questioned. This paper reports on an exploratory, qualitative investigation into patients' perspectives on satisfaction and dissatisfaction with out-patient care. Eighty-one new referrals to two out-patient clinics were interviewed before and after their first consultation. Of this initial sample, 23 were interviewed again at their follow-up appointment and a further 10 were interviewed in depth at a location of their choice. The features of the service that drew appreciative comments when they were thought to be present, and criticism when they were felt to be lacking, were: humanity, efficiency, informativeness and continuity of communication. Examples of these features are discussed using patients' own words to illustrate their perspectives. The study demonstrates that unstructured approaches to service evaluation can be employed to develop services which are genuinely listening to their users' views.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.