[Surveys on patient satisfaction in ambulatory care. Practicability, acceptance and relevance from the physician's perspective].

Surveys on patient satisfaction have become an integral part in quality management. Adequate survey conduction and appropriate feed back of survey results are essential prerequisites for a successful transfer of survey results into practice. During the validation of a new instrument to assess patient satisfaction in ambulatory care, we assessed the practicability, acceptance and relevance of the procedure used in this study (distribution and return of questionnaires, preparation of results and comparative feed back) from the perspective of the participating physicians (N = 60). Our results confirm, that physicians gain a considerable amount of information on quality of care from the patient's perspective, provided that results are fed back appropriately. Two thirds of the participating physicians (65%) obtained ideas and suggestions for quality management and improvement. Most of the ideas were realised at the time the physician survey took place. Recommendations for conducting patient surveys in ambulatory care and feed back of survey results for participating physicians are presented.