Assessment of patient experience profiles and satisfaction with expectations of treatment effects by using latent class analysis based on a national patient experience survey in Taiwan.

OBJECTIVES

Health system responsiveness is a complicated issue that guides researchers wishing to design an efficient methodology for enhancing understanding of perspectives regarding healthcare systems. This study examined the relationship between patient experience profiles and satisfaction with expectations of treatment effects.

DESIGN

This was a cross-sectional study. We used eight items obtained from latent class analysis to develop patient experience profiles.

SETTING

Primary care users in Taiwan.

PARTICIPANTS

This study conducted an annual National Health Insurance survey in Taiwan and sampled from those who had experience with the medical service in primary care clinics in 2015.

PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURE

Respondents were asked to indicate the extent of their satisfaction with their expectation of treatment effects (or symptom improvement).

RESULTS

The proportions of participants in groups 1-4 were 34%, 24%, 29% and 12%, respectively. Patients in good health were more satisfied with their expectations of treatment effects (OR 1.639, p=0.007). Furthermore, group 4 (-eAll) were less satisfied with their expectations of treatment effects than those in the other three groups (ORs: group 1 (+eAll): 9.81, group 2 (-CwR): 4.14 and group 3 (-CnR): 4.20).

CONCLUSIONS

The results revealed that experiences of poor accessibility and physician-patient relationships affected the patients' expectations. Therefore, greater accessibility and more positive physician-patient relationships could lead to higher patient satisfaction with their expectations of treatment effects. Furthermore, the findings could assist authorities in targeting specific patients, with the objective of improving their healthcare service experience. They could also serve as a mechanism for improving the quality of healthcare services and increase accountability in healthcare practices.