Park Jinhee, Kim Jinhyun
College of Nursing, Seoul National University, 103 Daehak-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul 03080, Republic of Korea.
Int J Qual Health Care. 2025 Jul 4;37(3). doi: 10.1093/intqhc/mzaf052.
Understanding the factors influencing patient satisfaction is essential for improving healthcare services. However, the diverse elements affecting patient satisfaction at medical institutions make it impractical and inefficient to enhance all factors simultaneously. The purpose of this study is to analyze the factors influencing patient satisfaction based on the Patient Experience Survey and to identify key predictors ranked by importance for efficient application in clinical and hospital settings.
A total of 69 562 survey responses were obtained from the Korean Medical Service Experience Survey conducted between 2019 and 2023. Patients satisfying the following specific conditions were extracted and categorized based on the type of medical institution (clinic or hospital) and care modality (outpatient or inpatient): outpatients visiting a clinic (N = 26 349), outpatients visiting a hospital (N = 9861), and inpatients admitted to a hospital (N = 1617). For each category, factors influencing the patients' overall satisfaction with their medical experience and their intention to recommend the hospital or clinic were analyzed. To assess the magnitude and importance of these factors, Spearman's rank correlation analysis and a regression tree model were used. The study also compared whether key predictive factors of patient satisfaction differed by medical institution type (clinic vs. hospital) and care modality (outpatient vs. inpatient), as well as by the specific patient satisfaction outcome measure (overall satisfaction vs. intention to recommend).
The analysis revealed that patient satisfaction was determined by different factors depending on the outcome measure. For overall satisfaction, the most significant predictor was satisfaction with treatment outcomes, while for intention to recommend, the most influential factor was the convenience of the medical facility. These findings were consistent across medical institution types (clinic or hospital) and care modalities (outpatient or inpatient). The attitude of healthcare providers (doctors or nurses) also emerged as a key predictor of patient satisfaction, though its importance varied depending on the type of medical institution and care modality.
Satisfaction with treatment outcomes and convenience of the medical facility were the most important predictor of overall satisfaction and intention to recommend, respectively. These findings reinforce that prioritizing the clinical effectiveness of care-rather than focusing solely on service-related features-is essential for achieving high patient satisfaction. Because of utilizing a large-scale dataset and identifying predictors ranked by importance, this study is expected to contribute effectively to decision-making processes regarding the future development and improvement of healthcare institutions.
了解影响患者满意度的因素对于改善医疗服务至关重要。然而，医疗机构中影响患者满意度的因素多种多样，同时改善所有因素既不切实际也效率低下。本研究的目的是基于患者体验调查分析影响患者满意度的因素，并确定按重要性排序的关键预测因素，以便在临床和医院环境中有效应用。
从2019年至2023年进行的韩国医疗服务体验调查中总共获得了69562份调查回复。根据医疗机构类型（诊所或医院）和护理方式（门诊或住院），提取满足以下特定条件的患者并进行分类：就诊于诊所的门诊患者（N = 26349）、就诊于医院的门诊患者（N = 9861）以及入住医院的住院患者（N = 1617）。对于每个类别，分析影响患者对其医疗体验总体满意度以及推荐医院或诊所意愿的因素。为了评估这些因素的大小和重要性，使用了Spearman等级相关分析和回归树模型。该研究还比较了患者满意度的关键预测因素是否因医疗机构类型（诊所与医院）、护理方式（门诊与住院）以及具体的患者满意度结果指标（总体满意度与推荐意愿）而有所不同。
分析表明，根据结果指标的不同，患者满意度由不同因素决定。对于总体满意度，最显著的预测因素是对治疗结果的满意度，而对于推荐意愿，最有影响力的因素是医疗设施的便利性。这些发现适用于所有医疗机构类型（诊所或医院）和护理方式（门诊或住院）。医疗服务提供者（医生或护士）的态度也是患者满意度的关键预测因素，不过其重要性因医疗机构类型和护理方式而异。
对治疗结果的满意度和医疗设施的便利性分别是总体满意度和推荐意愿的最重要预测因素。这些发现强化了这样一个观点，即优先考虑护理的临床效果——而不是仅仅关注与服务相关的特征——对于实现高患者满意度至关重要。由于本研究使用了大规模数据集并确定了按重要性排序的预测因素，预计将对医疗机构未来的发展和改进的决策过程做出有效贡献。
