Customer Satisfaction with Patient Care

Abstract

The current emergency medicine customer service dilemmas are a complex interaction of both patient and physician factors specifically targeting both efficiency and patient satisfaction. Awareness of these issues can help to maximize efficiency, minimize subsequent medicolegal risk and improve patient care.

Optimizing Patient/Caregiver Satisfaction Through Quality of Communication in the Pediatric Emergency Department

“…There is increasing agreement that patient/caregiver satisfaction is a desirable component of the health care interaction for a variety of reasons. 2,3,7 An institution may utilize patient satisfaction to compete for market share, achieve patient/caregiver loyalty and referral, leverage patient satisfaction for marketing campaigns and payment-insurance contracts, as well as limit corporate liability. 2Y6 Internally, within an ED, administrators and providers need to balance the return-on-investment of various patient/caregiver satisfaction improvement ventures, within the constraints of finite resources, competing opportunities, and the guiding organizational vision.…”

“…4 That alignment is unlikely to occur without investment in communication and education. 2,3 Communication and education need to occur not only between ED providers and patient/caregivers, but also in a multidirectional manner between components of a health care system.…”

“…3,6 The latter aspect is rarely measured in this context. Patients/caregivers may have a reasonably accurate self-assessment of somatic-related health change improvement, while being less reliable when the measured outcome is subtle or requires a technology-based assessment.…”

Patient Health Satisfaction Survey in Connecticut Correctional Facilities

“…There are several potential contributing elements to this apparent discrepancy. A caring attitude on the part of physicians and nurses has been repeatedly linked with patient satisfaction (Chande, Bhende, & Davis, 1991; Schwartz & Overton, 1987; Vukimer, 2006). Focused interest expressed verbally and nonverbally by the health care provider not only conveys a caring attitude but may enhance the quality of the encounter.…”

Contemplative Science: An Insider Prospectus

“…Clinician empathy has been long recognized as being an important ingredient in effective medicine. Clinician empathy infl uences patient satisfaction (Bertakis, Roter, and Putnam 1991;Blatt et al 2010;Kim, Kaplowitz, and Johnston 2004;Zachariae et al 2003), adherence to medical recommendations (Kim, Kaplowitz, and Johnston 2004;Pollak et al 2007;Vermeire et al 2001), and medical-legal risk (Spiegel and Kavaler 1997;Vukmir 2006). Clinician empathy is related to clinical competence (Arora et al 2010;Hojat et al 2002) and strongly predicts clinical outcomes (Burns and Nolen-Hoeksema 1992;Di Blasi et al 2001;Hojat et al 2011;Norcross and Wampold 2011).…”