Abstract
Objectives: Revalidation of a survey instrument assessing patients’ experiences with care in hospital. To determine the suitability of the questionnaire for its use in internal and external quality management.
Methods: Postal survey, 11 826 patients from 31 hospitals received a questionnaire after discharge. Psychometric evaluation was done via exploratory factor analysis and reliability and regression analysis. The questionnaire's ability to differentiate between subgroups and between hospitals was evaluated.
Results: The mean response rate was 60%. Nine factors (Cronbach's α between 0.6 and 0.9) were extracted, explaining 57% of the variance. Age, subjective assessment of health and hospital size seem to be associated with patients’ willingness to recommend the hospital to family and friends. This applies particularly for those aspects where the interaction between patient and health professionals and a successful communication between them is concerned.
Conclusions: Due to its good psychometric properties, the ability to differentiate between hospitals and its practicability the questionnaire is well suited for use in internal and external quality management of hospitals.
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