title: [Evaluation of inpatient satisfaction. Comparison of different survey methods].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the impact of patient satisfaction survey method on response rate, data quality and satisfaction.
  
  
  METHODS
  Four modes of data collection were assessed during a randomized trial that included 400 inpatients discharged from a teaching hospital.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The response rate was 58% within the mail survey group (72% with follow-up letter) versus 73% and 81% within the home and telephone interview group (p < 0.01). 69% of the mailed questionnaires contained no missing values versus 94% and 96% for home and telephone interview modes (p < 0.01). The global satisfaction scale score was greater within the mail survey groups (8.1/10 without follow-up letter and 7.9 with follow-up letter) than within the telephone interview group (7.8) and the face to face interview group (7.3), (p < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Mail survey with follow-up letter constitutes an operational method despite lower data quality and overestimation of patients' satisfaction scores.
authors.affiliation: Unité d'Evaluation, SIIM, CHU de Grenoble.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Labarère
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: François
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bertrand
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fourny
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Olive
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Peyrin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys / Q000379:methods*; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards