DQ 5-2

DQ 5-2

2. “Over the past 20 years, patient satisfaction surveys have gained increasing attention as meaningful and essential sources of information for identifying gaps and developing an effective action plan for quality improvement in healthcare organizations” (Al-Abri & Al-Balushi, 2014). I have witnessed health care professionals do everything they in their power to make sure a patient is satisfied without success, myself included. This could be for many reasons including decreased cognition, unrealistic expectations, or even resentment of a specific staff member causing the patient to give a poor review for the entire facility altogether. This is why it is imperative that every individual on the healthcare team makes absolutely sure they are giving 110% of their effort to ensure the patient receives the best care possible.

 Al-Abri, R., & Al-Balushi, A. (2014). Patient Satisfaction Survey as a Tool Towards Quality Improvement. Oman Medical Journal, 29(1), 3–7. http://doi.org/10.5001/omj.2014.02

3. Patient satisfaction if much different than the actual quality of health care that they receive in any given facility. Patient satisfaction can be seen as clinical outcomes, patient retention, and the overall delivery of the quality health care (Prakash, 2010). Patient satisfaction surveys are good for improving the patient centered care in a facility, however, they should not be judged solely off of the quality of health care that was received. Health care professionals can give more than 100% of their time and effort and still have a patient that does not follow their recommendations. The patient may see that them not getting better is by fault of the quality of health care they received, when in fact it is not.

 References:

Prakash, B. (2010). Patient satisfaction. Journal of Cutaneous and Aesthetic Surgery, 3(3), 151–155. http://doi.org/10.4103/0974-2077.74491

4. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, “patient’s perception of health care quality are influenced to a large degree by their perception of a given provider” (AHRQ, 2014).  “Providers who are perceived to be responsive, empathetic, and attuned  to patient’s needs are judged by patients as being of higher quality than providers who are perceived to be less responsive  and empathetic, even if the clinical care delivered is the same” (AHRQ, 2014).  It is not easy to change people’s opinions simply by conducting survey research.  However, when conducting surveys, it may be beneficial for researchers to ask questions that focus on the health of the participants rather than the services that they received.  This may emphasize the outcome of the services rather than the services themselves.  Researchers might also do surveys asking about quality of life in general, such as what things affect their quality of life.  They could then publicize these findings to argue that the quality of service is not the same as the quality of health care.  This may push people towards valuing other aspects of health care, which may change their perception.

 Reference:

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (2014). Findings: Guide to Patient and Family Engagement. Retrieved from: https://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/final-reports/ptfamilyscan/ptfamily3.html

5. "Patient satisfaction surveys have gained increasing attention as meaningful and essential sources of information for identifying gaps and developing an effective action plan for quality improvement in healthcare organizations" (Med, 2014). Surveys  given to patients are used by health care to measure quality of health care. Results can help medical staff see areas that need improvement and see  know areas which patients are satisfied. However, I think quality of care differs from patient satisfaction, the perspective of patient can be different from the physicans. Doctors and medical staff can do their job 100 % but if the patient didn't like something, the patient will give a negative feedback that does not deal with the quality of care provided by the doctor. 

Reference 

Med J, Oman, Patient Satisfaction Survey as a Tool Towards Quality of Care. 2017, Jan. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3910415/