Murray H, Locker D, Mock D, Tenenbaum H
Community Dental Health Services Research Unit, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto, Canada.
Community Dent Health. 1997 Jun;14(2):69-73.
Patient satisfaction is an important component of the evaluation of the quality of health care and has also been linked to therapeutic outcomes. The objective of this paper was to assess patient satisfaction with an initial consultation at a cranio-facial pain unit located in a large hospital in a major metropolitan centre.
A case series design was used. The study population consisted of new patients referred to the unit. One month before their initial appointment patients were mailed an oro-facial pain questionnaire. Immediately following the consultation they were mailed a satisfaction questionnaire which contained a modified version of the Dental Visit Satisfaction Scale.
Oro-facial pain data were collected from 121 patients and 78 of these returned a completed satisfaction questionnaire. While levels of satisfaction with the consultation were high overall, specific questions about consultation processes and outcomes revealed some sources of dissatisfaction. Just over half reported dissatisfaction with communications and one fifth were dissatisfied with outcomes in terms of diagnosis and treatment. Satisfaction with communication was the only dimension of the consultation process to be associated with satisfaction with outcomes, and satisfaction with outcomes was the main predictor of satisfaction overall.
Although the relationships between patients and practitioners at the unit were favourable, improvements in communications may be necessary if the full benefits of the consultation are to be realised. This can be difficult with this patient population whose conditions are complex and often poorly understood.
患者满意度是医疗质量评估的重要组成部分，并且也与治疗效果相关。本文的目的是评估在一个位于大城市中心的大型医院中的颅面痛治疗单元进行初次咨询时患者的满意度。
采用病例系列设计。研究人群包括转诊至该治疗单元的新患者。在他们初次预约前一个月，向患者邮寄一份口腔面部疼痛问卷。咨询结束后立即向他们邮寄一份满意度问卷，其中包含牙科就诊满意度量表的修订版。
收集了121名患者的口腔面部疼痛数据，其中78名患者返回了完整的满意度问卷。虽然总体上对咨询的满意度较高，但关于咨询过程和结果的具体问题揭示了一些不满意的来源。略超过一半的患者表示对沟通不满意，五分之一的患者对诊断和治疗结果不满意。沟通满意度是咨询过程中与结果满意度相关的唯一维度，而结果满意度是总体满意度的主要预测因素。
尽管该治疗单元中患者与从业者之间的关系良好，但如果要充分实现咨询的益处，可能需要改善沟通。对于病情复杂且往往难以理解的这类患者群体而言，这可能具有挑战性。
