The challenges of patient satisfaction: influencing factors and the patient – provider relationship in the United States

Abstract

Patient satisfaction is a phenomenon that has become influential in the inpatient setting with the introduction of the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Practitioners and Systems (HCAHPS) survey in the United States. Patient satisfaction is a key goal of healthcare organizations and presents some challenges to providing quality patient care. Areas covered: This review will focus on the challenges patient satisfaction presents in the healthcare field, with a key focus on factors that influence patient satisfaction, the common problem of inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions and the importance of the patient-provider relationship. Expert commentary: While it is apparent that focused efforts to better understand patient satisfaction are necessary and that implementation of processes to enhance satisfaction are warranted, attention must be directed so that these interventions do not adversely influence the efficiency or quality of care. Continuous long-term relationships with healthcare providers encourage patient loyalty, effective healthcare and good lifestyle habits.

The Influence of Patient and Hospital Characteristics on Inpatient Satisfaction at Beijing District-Level Hospitals

“…Previous studies also revealed that patients with chronic conditions had lower satisfaction. 27 , 31–34 The association between chronic disease and inpatient satisfaction was significant in the univariate analysis over several domains. However, it did not prove statistically significant in the final regression.…”

“…This result proved consistent with most previous studies that also documented a negative association between education and inpatient satisfaction. 27–29 Some scholars in the field of psychology have claimed that patients with lower levels of education exhibited greater trust, held lower expectations, had higher satisfaction and submitted fewer medical claims than those with higher levels of education. 30 After controlling for other patient and institutional factors, this research also arrived at the same conclusion.…”

How Feedback Is Given Matters: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Patient Satisfaction Feedback Delivery and Physician Well-being

“…[7][8][9][10] However, physicians often remain skeptical of current approaches to measure patient satisfaction, as instruments have been found to be vulnerable to bias, do not capture the full complexity of clinical care, and can pressure physicians to provide medically questionable care to boost their patient satisfaction performance scores. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] Less well understood is how providing physicians with feedback regarding their patient satisfaction performance might impact their well-being. Occupational burnout is common in physicians and has important repercussions for patient safety, quality of care, patient satisfaction, cost, and physician turnover.…”

Patient preferences for treatment of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections in the emergency department

“…Currently, hospitals receive reimbursement for inpatients from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) based, in part, on patient satisfaction scores [ 22 ]. Previous satisfaction studies focused around antibiotics have generally observed increased satisfaction with more informed patients [ 23 ]. However, we found that only few participants reported being involved in the treatment decisions around their ABSSSI.…”