Developing a tool to evaluate patient satisfaction in an acute hospital setting.

Introduction: Governance initiatives have emphasised the importance of patient satisfaction and nurses often have a central role to play in its evaluation (Atree 2001). A plethora of tools are available in the literature by which patient satisfaction can be assessed. However, these are often specific to the setting or context in which they have been developed and it is difficult to determine validity in another setting (Sitzia 1999). Aim: The aim of this study was to develop a tool by which to evaluate patient satisfaction and test its reliability and validity in an acute hospital setting. Method: To generate the central components of patient satisfaction in this diverse patient group, focus groups were conducted with recently discharged patients in each clinical speciality. Group Discussions were taped, transcribed and analysed using a content analysis approach to derive central features of satisfaction from each group and develop consensus across groups. Following this procedure a quantitative tool was developed and piloted with a convenience sample of 40 patients. The modified questionnaire was then posted to a randomly selected sample of 600 recently discharged patients. To assess reliability the test, re-test method was used with 200 returned questionnaires. Data were analysed using SPSS and standard tests. Results: There was a 46% response rate to the questionnaire. We assessed the construct validity of the tool using principle component analysis to define two main components explaining 35% of variance. Test-retest reliability was acceptable (r=0.800, p<0.001). The performance of the scale will be described using descriptive statistics. Conclusions: This paper discusses the development and testing of a questionnaire to evaluate patient satisfaction. We highlight the importance of userinvolvement and explain some of the statistical procedures which may increase nurses’ understanding of these issues, and enhance our contribution to this important element of governance.