Measuring patient satisfaction: dimensions and approaches

Over the last decade, the concept of the patient satisfaction as an outcome measure has gained importance as healthcare providers. Patient expectations are the anticipated or believed encounters a patient envisions will occur in a healthcare system and can affect patient satisfaction. In order to obtain information on patient satisfaction with the quality of health care services, national level surveys are conducted in Latvia. However, as indicated in the final report of the study “On Patient Satisfaction with the Quality of Healthcare Services”, the country has not yet developed uniform criteria according to which such surveys should be conducted. To make valid comparisons of data about patient experience of care of hospitals, similar methodology of measuring patient satisfaction with the medical care should be used, therefore the review of the scientific literature was made to develop and propose a model to the public hospitals for measuring patient satisfaction. The current study is a literature review of scientific articles and scientific researches about internationally recognised methodologies of measuring patient satisfaction. Information was analysed and synthesized. The results of the study show that the patient satisfaction encompasses several different dimensions, including: interpersonal manner, technical quality, accessibility/convenience, finances, efficacy/outcomes, continuity, physical environment, availability and the use of SERVQUAL approach dominates in patient satisfaction and service quality research. Measuring of patient satisfaction is of the multidimensional nature, results of which are good basis for improving quality management of operation of public hospitals. Process quality is as important as clinical quality in predicting patient satisfaction. Creating a positive patient experience is highly relevant in today’s healthcare environment since satisfaction metrics are often linked to payment.