Title: Patient Satisfaction

Theme: Increasing awareness among health services providers of the importance of patient satisfaction as a vital measure for quality of the health services provided.

Author: Dr. Mohammed Mohammed Khair El-deen, lecturer, Laboratory Medicine Dept.

Article:

There is an increasing need for improving the health services provided to patients. Many of the health services providers think that service quality depends only on their success in doing their job efficiently and professionally and that clinical results and patients medical improvement are the only criteria determining the quality of the health services provided to patients. Patient satisfaction, for many health services providers, isn’t a fair measure for the quality of the services they provide, either because of patients’ lack of information required for judging the quality of the health services or because patients are in no physical and mental condition that qualify them for sound judgment.

However, many scientific studies proved that there is a close relation between patient satisfaction and the improvement of their health condition and that patient satisfaction can’t be ignored as a vital measure for the quality of the provided services. The description ‘high quality’ can’t label any health service that doesn’t meet patient satisfaction. Patient satisfaction is also a reason for the quality of the health services provided, as it encourages patients to abide by the doctor’s instructions and speak freely about their illness and their social problems that may caused their health issues, what helps doctors to give correct diagnosis and describe the suitable medication. Patient satisfaction also enhances patient’s confidence in the health sector and the provided health services, this, in turn, will contribute to commitment to other health services schedule and encourages them to quickly request treatment in case of other complaints, what will eventually lead to the improvement of the overall health condition.

Patient satisfaction is also an important factor in marketing health services, as studies found out that one dissatisfied patient will tell about 8 to 16 other persons (10% of patients told more than 20 persons) and that 91% of dissatisfied patients won’t request health services again from the same provider. Studies also found that the cost of winning a new customer is fivefold the cost of keeping an existing customer, and that the service provider attention to patients’ complaints will make 82% to 95% of patients interested in requesting health services from the same provider.

10 tips for health services providers to increase patients’ satisfaction:

1. Use the patient’s name in your conversation with him (whether in taking medical history, providing treatment, or calling him after waiting time);
2. Use the right title in addressing patients;
3. Introduce yourself before providing the services to the patient, and it’s better to wear IDs in clear spot where patients can read them easily;
4. Keep suitable eye contact with the patient and never turn away when he is addressing you;
5. Listen carefully to the patient;
6. If you need to enter data while speaking to your patient, tell him what you need to do and the required time for it;
7. Involve patients in decision making related to their health condition; for example ask the patients about their fears, what they expect from their health service providers or what they expect to be a good health service;
8. Tell the patients about the expected results and the target of each service. It’s very important to use simple and easy to understand language and to avoid complicated terminology;
9. Provide patients with printed material about their illness, medical instructions and advice that they can keep; and
10. At the end of the visit, it’s very important to sum up important information and thank the patient.