[What do patients expect from a psychiatric department at a general hospital?].
OBJECTIVE
The study aimed to investigate the expectations of patients of a psychiatric department at a general hospital regarding their inpatient care.


METHODS
At a key day 131 patients were surveyed by a questionnaire comprising 39 items. The response rate was 70 % (n = 91).


RESULTS
The patients assign most importance to successful treatment, empathic doctors, preservation of human rights, competent doctors, and friendly staff. The expectations of patients of a psychiatric department are similar to those of patients of a psychiatric state hospital. Patients' expectations are not confounded with the psychiatric disorder, psychopathology, subjective feeling, heaviness of illness, or psychosocial functioning. The internal consistency is alpha = 0.93.


CONCLUSIONS
The questionnaire is suitable for valid and reliable measuring the expectations of both patients of a psychiatric department and patients of a psychiatric state hospital when evaluating patient's satisfaction.
Spiessl
Hermann
H
Klinik und Poliklinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie der Universität am Bezirksklinikum Regensburg, Germany. hermann.spiessl@bkr-regensburg.de
Leber
Christian
C
Kaatz
Stefan
S
Cording
Clemens
C
D005858:Germany; D006760:Hospitalization; D006769:Hospitals, General; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010344:Patient Advocacy; D010348:Patient Care Team; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011567:Psychiatric Department, Hospital; D011594:Psychometrics; D012931:Social Environment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires