Identifying consumer satisfaction through patient surveys.

Health care administrators today are using patient surveys to identify problems with delivery of care and aspects most likely to build patient loyalty. Nursing care has traditionally been the most crucial factor in a patient's overall opinion of a facility. Ancillary services, however, also are important, and patient views may vary depending on staffing patterns and supervision. A 1984 patient satisfaction survey randomly selected a patient sample from a large midwestern hospital. The adjusted response was 54 percent, with 737 discharged patients participating. When two patient groups were compared,those rating the hospital "excellent" and those rating it "not excellent," the most significant difference was in their ratings of nursing service. The housekeeping and admissions departments also affected overall satisfaction. The survey showed that health care consumers distinguish between types of services,with nursing having the greatest effect on their overall attitude toward a facility, probably because of the frequent contact. In analyzing such surveys, administrators must be careful not to assign more value to numerical ratings than to the human interaction needed to "satisfy" patients.