The value of Facebook in nation-wide hospital quality assessment: a national mixed-methods study in Norway

Abstract

ObjectivesThe objective was to assess the possibility of using a combination of official and unofficial Facebook ratings and comments as a basis for nation-wide hospital quality assessments in Norway.MethodsAll hospitals from a national cross-sectional patient experience survey in 2015 were matched with corresponding Facebook ratings. Facebook ratings were correlated with both case-mix adjusted and unadjusted patient-reported experience scores, with separate analysis for hospitals with official site ratings and hospitals with unofficial site ratings. Facebook ratings were also correlated with patient-reported incident scores, hospital size, 30-day mortality and 30-day readmission. Facebook comments from 20 randomly selected hospitals were analysed, contrasting the content and sentiments of official versus unofficial Facebook pages.ResultsFacebook ratings were significantly correlated with most patient-reported indicators, with the highest correlations relating to unadjusted scores for organisation (0.60, p<0.000) and nursing services (0.57, p<0.000). Facebook ratings were significantly correlated with hospital size (−0.40, p=0.003) and 30-day mortality (0.31, p=0.040). Sentiment analysis showed that 84.7% of the comments from unofficial Facebook sites included neutral comments that did not give any specific description of experiences of the quality of care at the hospital. Content analysis identified common themes on official and unofficial Facebook pages.ConclusionsFacebook ratings were associated with patient-reported indicators, hospital size, and 30-day mortality. Qualitative comments from official Facebook are more relevant for hospital evaluation than unofficial sites. More research is needed on using Facebook ratings as a standalone indicator of patient experiences in national quality measurement, and such ratings should be reported together with research-based patient experience indicators and with explicit criteria for the inclusion of unofficial sites.

Facebook Reviews as a Supplemental Tool for Hospital Patient Satisfaction and Its Relationship with Hospital Accreditation in Malaysia

“…When we discovered an official hospital Facebook page, we validated the information by using the hospital’s website’s address, contacting hospital administrators, or referring to our operating definition of an official hospital Facebook page. These search methods have also been applied in previous studies [ 12 , 13 , 23 ].…”

“…For instance, Facebook includes a review tool that enables users to write narrative evaluations and rate the performance of businesses and institutions on those organizations’ Facebook pages. Numerous studies have discovered a low to moderate connection between Facebook evaluations and metrics from systematic patient satisfaction surveys [ 12 , 13 , 24 ], while another study found that clinical quality indicators such as reduced readmission rates are linked with patient recommendations and higher Facebook ratings [ 25 ]. According to a recent study, hospitals with an active Facebook page had more “likes”, a higher rate of patients willing to recommend the hospital, and a better overall satisfaction score [ 26 ].…”

“…Several studies indicated that online review and social media research possess greater scientific value to explore. Few research works have examined the relationship between online review sites and hospital quality indicators [ 12 , 13 ] or conventional patient satisfaction surveys [ 6 , 14 ]. Meanwhile, other researchers examined the quality of online reviews in relation to public perceptions and sentiments [ 2 , 15 , 16 , 17 ].…”

Attitudes, Preferences and Usage Behavior of the Population Regarding Social Media Pages of Hospitals - Results of a Quantitative Survey in the DACH Region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland)

“…The only research area where the behavior of the population or users in social media platforms in relation to hospitals has been specifically addressed so far is the analysis of reviews of hospitals in social media platforms (e.g., on Yelp, Google Reviews, or Facebook). These studies have mostly examined the extent to which such reviews from the public correlate with official hospital quality statistics (Bjertnaes et al 2020;Campbell and Li 2018;Glover et al 2015;Lee et al 2018;Perez and Freedman 2018). In this regard, however, it was also noted that biases occur on social media platforms because parts of the population are not active on them or do not review hospitals on them (Bjertnaes et al 2020;Campbell and Li 2018;Rozenblum et al 2017;Huppertz and Otto 2018).…”

“…These studies have mostly examined the extent to which such reviews from the public correlate with official hospital quality statistics (Bjertnaes et al 2020;Campbell and Li 2018;Glover et al 2015;Lee et al 2018;Perez and Freedman 2018). In this regard, however, it was also noted that biases occur on social media platforms because parts of the population are not active on them or do not review hospitals on them (Bjertnaes et al 2020;Campbell and Li 2018;Rozenblum et al 2017;Huppertz and Otto 2018). Furthermore, there are hardly any empirical findings to date on attitudes, preferences or user behavior of the population with regard to social media pages of hospitals.…”