Evaluation of patient’s satisfaction that underwent cardiac surgery

Patient’s satisfaction constitutes valid indicator of quality of provided services of health. The aim of the present study was to estimate patient’s satisfaction that underwent cardiac surgery. Material and Method: The studied population consisted of 69 patients who underwent elective cardiac surgery in a hospital of Athens between the period January and May 2011. To assess the patient’s satisfaction a questionnaire conducted by Greek researchers and a form for recording the social - demographic and clinical data of patients was used. The questionnaire included 33 questions on a five-point Likert scale (1-5), which occurred in four dimensions: (a) physician and nursing care (b) organization of care, (c) hospital environment and (d) other quality factors. For all questions the declared higher value corresponds to a higher degree of satisfaction. For the comparison of proportions chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests were used. In order to compare mean values between the two study groups Student’s t-test was used. For the comparison of patient’s satisfaction dimensions between the control and intervention group the non-parametric Mann Whitney test was computed. All p values reported are two-tailed. Statistical significance was set at 0.05 and analyses were conducted using SPSS statistical software (version 19.0). Results: 58% were males (n = 40) and the average age was 66,5 (± 8,9) years. The overall satisfaction of patients from the hospital was more moderate (3,33 ± 0,89). The satisfaction of the four dimensions of health services was assessed as follows: a) physician and nursing care 3,57 (± 1,05), b) Organisation of care 3,27 (± 0,846), c) hospital environment 3.09 (± 0,819) and d) Other quality factors 3,41 (± 1,01). The correlation between satisfaction and demographic characteristics of the sample showed no statistically significant results. Patients aged 61-74 years felt more satisfied (p> 0,187). Married and secondary school graduates felt more satisfied with the overall hospitalization [(3,85 ± 0,021) and (3,66 ± 0,024), respectively]. The correlation between satisfaction and clinical characteristics of the sample showed no statistically significant results. Conclusions: The overall satisfaction of patients undergoing heart surgery was good, but not high. Ii suggested the need to improve physician and nursing care as well as other factors affecting patient satisfaction.

Keywords: Patient’s satisfaction, cardiac surgery, health services