Identifying issues important to patients on a hospital satisfaction questionnaire.

A patient satisfaction questionnaire used by a private, nonprofit psychiatric hospital was revised to include issues considered important by patients. Focus groups were used to obtain patients' written responses to general questions about the essential aspects of their hospital stay and factors contributing to their recovery. Other issues were identified through patients' ratings of a list of items found in the literature or included on the hospital's current questionnaire. The results indicated that caring staff, explanations of treatment, and involvement in groups and classes were considered most important by patients.